Imperia Terrae (Empires of Earth)
by Voiddragon11
Summary: Mass Effect A.U with slight War of the worlds crossover. In the year 1896 an Alien race invades Earth but are defeated not by man, but by Bacteria. The Empires of Earth have spread into the stairs but it has not been easy, wars with aliens have left humanity mistrustful. Now in the year 2183, the HMS Hastings is in a race against time to hunt down the rogue Spectre Saren.
1. Prologue

I do not own the Mass effect franchise this a non-profit piece of fiction etc etc.

Prologue: The beginning.

Major Albert Shepard sat at his writing desk, which was placed near a window overlooking the city of Calcutta; Calcutta was the beating heart of the Raj, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Shepard was currently writing to his wife who was on a hunting trip with her father in South Africa, the letter was just asking if all was well and letting her know how he was. As he finished the last sentence of the letter he once again stopped to think of how lucky he was to have had a woman like Jessica fall in love with him. He couldn't wait for the two of them to be back together, since he had been in India for months now.

Once he was done with the letter he took off his khaki officer's jacket, leaned back in his chair, and picked up the most recent edition of the 'Calcutta journal' dated September 12th 1896. The Journal was a newspaper that was mostly distributed to the British citizens of the city. The papers headline read 'Bright Flashes of light observed on Martian surface and strange phenomenon in Skies over Asia.' This story captured Shepard's interest, having studied astronomy in his teen years before his father "convinced" him to join the army, but even all these years later he still held a passion for all things that involved the heavens. As he read through the article he learned that an observatory in England had first spotted the flashes of light on the Martian surface. Being a curious fellow, Shepard decided to set up the small telescope that he kept in his quarters (it had been a gift from his wife for his birthday last year).

He set the telescope down, opened the shutters that covered the window, and turned off the lamp in his room so the light wouldn't mess with his observations of the Red Planet. As he leaned down and put his eye to the eye piece, he caught the briefest glimpse of a bright object streak by. He had no time to ponder what the object could be however as in that moment a tremendous explosion erupted in the center of Calcutta. The resulting shockwave shook the building and sent him sprawling to the floor on his back. He sat up and immediately noticed his telescopes eye piece had shattered. "Oh bloody Hell, just my luck," he cursed. It was at that moment he noticed screams and shouting in the distance. He mentally slapped himself. There had just been a massive explosion in the middle of the city and he, an Officer of her majesty's army, was worrying about his telescope. Maybe the knock he'd received on his head had done more damage than he realized. Now that Shepard thought about it, there was a dull throbbing at the back of his skull. Shepard put his hand on the back of his head and upon withdrawing was alarmed at the blood covering it.

Shepard wondered what the explosion could have been. '_Could it have been a meteor perhaps_?' he thought. Regardless of what it was he needed to go gather the men. Said task was made all the more pressing by the continuing screaming and shouting in the distance. He picked up his jacket that he had put on the edge of his chair which was now laying on the floor. He went to leave his room and just as he reached the door there was a loud knock on the door, and upon opening his door he was greeted by the sight of Captain Paul Dolton. The Captain straightened up and saluted Shepard, and he returned the salute. "Good timing Captain I was just coming to find you," said Shepard. The Captain had a large cut on his forehead; he had most likely been injured by the shockwave just as Shepard had.

Dolton said shakily, "We need orde..." the Captain tried to say before turning pale, "um sir you might want to turn around," pointing behind Shepard.

"Why, what is…" Shepard stopped mid-sentence, the sight that greeted him filled him with terror. Through the window he could see about half a mile away, at the point of the earlier explosion emerging from the smoke was three monstrous machines that looked like a bunch of boilers suspended on three stilts. From the sides, each of the Tripods uncurled two metallic appendages with what resembled lamps on the end. The lamps on the end of the appendages shot out a brief flash of light. It did this once, twice, then three times and all three tripods started firing these beams of light almost bright as the sun.

Shepard realized with horror that it was not mere light as everything the beams touched seemed to disappear. No explosions, no fires, or anything else. The buildings the beam touched simply disintegrated and every time the beams were lit they lit up the city for a brief instant and caused the screaming to increase. "Captain, gather the battalion, and send a rider to the Colonel. We need to prepare," Shepard's voice was shaking more then he meant it to.

"Yes sir," he replied.

Just as the Captain turned to leave Shepard said, "Oh and Dolton get me a bandage would you?" The Captain nodded and hurried off. Shepard walked back into his room and picked up the chair that was lying on the floor and slumped down on to it. He looked out of the window and saw the three tripods striding throughout the city centre firing those dastardly beams. Shepard put his head in his hands, "How the bloody hell are we supposed to fight these things?" His question was met with the sounds of the tripods beams firing and the screams in the distance.

Codex entry: The Invasion of Earth.

Humanity's first contact with an extra-terrestrial species occurred in 1896. At this time Humanity was a pre-space flight species and was in an industrial state of civilization that had yet to have any contact with an alien race. Unfortunately for Humanity first contact was not a smooth process. The alien race which had no proper name at the time was referred to as the Martians by the countries of Earth. They deployed by way of cylinders that for the most part landed in the northern hemisphere in the industrialized nations, but there were alien forces that landed in the British Raj, Qing China and South America. The industrial era militaries of Earth were powerless to resist the invaders who operated huge multi story machines dubbed "Tripods" and used a kind of barrier not powered by Eezo. The only weapons that humanity could use to harm the invaders were the guns of the ocean going battleships that the Navies of Earth used at the time. Some famous examples that have gone down in history are the British ships H.M.S Thunderchild and the U.S.S Texas.

Earth was saved only due to the fact that the Martians had not prepared an adequate defense against Earth's bacteria and viruses, and thus the invaders fell not to man or his weapons but microscopic organisms of disease. After the war, and even today, there is much debate about why an advanced species would be so careless. Some theories put forward are that they were desperate and had no time to test counter measures. The death toll was immense, with estimates putting the final total at around thirty million worldwide (note this does not include the famines resulting from loss of infrastructure). In the years after the Martian invasion, the race was on to secure the most alien technology. Of course, this race for technology took a new turn with the Tunguska event of 1908…


	2. Chapter one:Mars fall

Anytime I put this "*" after a word it means it will be explained in my "codex entry's".

Also 'this was bad' means the character is thinking it.

Chapter one: Mars Fall.

July 1st 1997.

Leftenant Colonel Fredrick Shepard was feeling slightly anxious as the shuttle entered Mars's atmosphere, it was not a smooth decent. He wished this damn thing had windows, he hated being blind to the outside. The shuttles passenger section was quite open with a dozen seats lining the edges of each of the sides but otherwise it was open, this was because it was a military landing ship technically not a shuttle and so was designed to carry tanks and walkers. Today however it was full of Royal marines in heavy armour of course this armour also functioned as a sealed space suit vital for operations on Mars surface, the suits were all coloured in the rust red of Mars's.

The Royal marines were all chatting amongst themselves casually and seemed quite relaxed, Fredrick was glad the Marines were here especially if what the message from the Royal society of Mars about what they uncovered on this planet was true. He looked to the seats that were directly across from him on these seats sat Fredrick's personal escort five royal marine commandos, unlike the other marines whose visors were clear and wore rust coloured uniforms these five men's armour was as black as night, while their helmets visors were blood red. There were two visible marking on their armour, one was a small flag containing their country of origin on their left paludron, three had the British Union Flag another the Canadian red ensign and one had the Blue ensign of Kenyan. On their right paludron was their units' emblem which was a sword going through the top of a tripod, this was a nod to the units history where it had played a vital role in defending Plymouth from the Martain war machines.

The Co-Pilot's voice came over the speakers in the shuttle bring Fredrick back down to Earth as it were. "We will be landing at Livingstone city shortly lads, and Leftenant Colonel if you want to see Mars from the air now is the best time, it's a brilliant sight". Fredrick decided to accept the offer, as he never got tired of seeing the Red planet from the air there was something eerie about it, something about the planet itself was…off he couldn't really explain it. He made his way to the front of the shuttle where the cockpit was located, the door to the cockpit slid open.

The sight that he could see through the windows took his breath away this planet was marvellous this is what Andrew Scarlet* must have felt when he first touched down on the Red planet. The vastness of Olympus Mons could be seen in the distance; of course all the land he could see now was currently unclaimed, although the British and Russian sectors met near here somewhere although he didn't know where exactly. "Quite a sight isn't it sir?" The pilot cheerfully said.

Fredrick couldn't help but just nod and mumble out "that it is", it was then he did a double take, the pilot sounded female he couldn't tell though because of the full visor flight helmet and the suit was too bulky to tell by the body shape. He knew that the Government had recently lifted the restrictions on females serving in the RAF and Royal Navy but he didn't know any of them had been able to get a posting in the Space fleet yet. Fredrick put on his as he called it his 'Officer voice'. He pointed to the Pilot "You there."

The Pilot without taking her or his eyes off of the flight displays responded "Yes Sir?"

Fredrick continuing in his 'Officer voice' said "name and rank", the pilot sighed.

"Flight leftenant Stephanie Grant at your service sir" she did a half salute in her flight chair.

The Co-pilot chimed in at this he sounded like an Aussie "the Lieutenant is one of the best damn pilot's in the air force sir, she landed the Indian rifles behind the Russian lines at the battle of Olympus*".

Stephanie just nodded at this "Yep that was me" she did a nervous little laugh clearly uncomfortable with the praise from the Co-Pilot. Fredrick looked at her with respect for this, if they hadn't have got those troops behind the Russian lines the Russians with their damned knock off Tripods would have overwhelmed the Imperial positions.

"I have to say Leftantant that was a bloody good show, that will be all gent and ma 'arm. Oh one last thing, how long until we touch down?"

Stephanie glanced at a dial to her left "about ten minutes sir". Fredrick said his thanks and with that left the cockpit to go and re-join the men, he sat down in the same seat he had been in a few minutes ago and took out his scroll, which was a type of electronic mobile device this new model that Fredrick had was a touch screen. Not many people knew it but this and devices like it were based on the technology discovered in the Tunguska crater at the beginning of this century.

Fredrick bought up the Times newspaper on the device the date was the first of July nineteen ninety seven something about that date seemed significant to Fredrick but he couldn't remember what " ah Hong Kong" he had said it aloud without meaning, to a couple of the marines glanced at him. On this date the British Empire was meant to hand over Hong Kong to the Republic of China the Chinese had been kicking up a fuss but the British had said however said in no uncertain terms where they stood on the issue of Hong Kong.

Of course the Chinese were less likely to make threats now that a portion of the home fleet had been deployed to a stationary orbit above China and if it came to war as it stood China wouldn't be able to match the Royal navy in space combat ship for ship, give the Chinese twenty to thirty years however and that might be a different story. In fact Fredrick was looking at a cartoon in the Times of a British lion sprinkling sand into the eye of the Chinese dragon to stop it from waking up while keeping an eye on the Russian bear, the American eagle and the Black German eagle at its back. For the remaining five minutes of the flight Fredrick read an article on the new line of Dreadnaughts currently being built at Elizabeth station back in Earth orbit.

The shuttle touched down at Livingstone city, the city was built into the side of a Martian mountain range, the mountains the city were built into were riddled with mines and tunnels. Not far from the city were the remains of one of the great mass accelerator cannons that had sent the Martians on their path to Earth, pretty much all Royal navy Dreadnaughts had miniature versions of these as primary weapons. Fredrick as protocol dictated double checked his suit for breaches as did the platoon of Royal marines and his black clad body guards once everyone had checked their suits, the ramp at the back of the drop ship lowered, Fredrick was the first to step out and was greeted by wind that was blowing the red Martian dust across the large landing pad, the pad itself was easily capable of holding a frigate. Standing at the edge of the landing pad towards were what looked like stairs that led down into a large airlock. A man stood in front of these stairs, the bars on his suit identified him as a Major in the army, the Major offered his hand for a handshake Fredrick took it.

"Hello Sir It is good you are here, my name is Anish Dhurvasula" even though his voice was distorted through the speakers of his helmet Fredrick could tell the man had a strong Indian accent.

"Nice to meet you Major, well if the message you sent was accurate the Admiralty is very keen to help in any way we can".

The Major nodded and gestured to the stairs which led to the airlock into wider complex "Come let us get out of this wind there is a storm not far off by the look of it."

Fredrick turned his head to look at the horizon where indeed there was a huge cloud of dust on Fredrick turned back to the Major "yes I agree also these men need a hot meal."

The Major laughed "haha I imagine they do, come let's go inside, but what about your drop ship you cannot leave it outside when the storm hits you must get it into the storm hanger".

Fredrick told him not to worry "The ship will be returning to the Ajax once the men have got clear don't worry Major." He nodded and started to walk towards the large airlock. Fredrick gave orders to the marine's captain to follow the Major once they were clear of the landing pad. The shuttle fired up its two large main boosters which were located at the back of the ship, and then the smaller secondary boosters that were located under the nose fired up and started slowly lifting off. The shuttle turned slowly to face Fredrick who was still standing on the edge of the landing pad. He could just make out the two figures sitting in the cockpit of the large landing ship, he could swear one of them waved he waved back then followed his men into the airlock. Unlike the rest of his men his body guards were waiting just outside the airlock he gave them a nod.

In the centre of the airlock was the royal coat of arms the colours of the coat of arms really stood out against the whitish metal of the airlock. The giant metal bulkheads parted and slid open, the space that had been filled by the bulkheads was now covered by a transparent bluish coat of light. This was a shield another technological advance that had been engineered off Martian technology. Fredrick stepped through the barrier with his body guards and into the complex.

Fredrick had now been on Mars for three hours, in that time he had managed to grab a bite to eat in the officer's mess and been able to have a shower in his newly given quarters. He was currently walking through the barracks of the base, he had some time to kill until the meeting with the senior scientists and military officials in about half an hour. The base was quite different to the cramped quarters of the war ships Fredrick was used to serving on, even though he had been to Mars several times this was his first visit to Livingstone city. The walls were coloured white a bit like some of the military hospitals Fredrick had spent time in over his decade of service to the Crown. The walls here though had murals of forests painted on them here and there Fredrick had asked one of the base personal earlier about this and he was told seeing green forests helped keep up morale when you were stuck in a red wasteland for months at a time.

For a large base the hallways and corridors seemed to be deserted Fredrick had only passed five people so far. He passed a mini doctors clinic judging by the sign and what he could see through the rectangle window that took up part of the wall, he decided to pop in and ask where the devil everyone was. He reached the door and just as he raised his hand to knock it slid open to reveal a woman with shoulder length ginger hair, wearing a blue nurse outfit she seemed to be concentrating on a scroll device just like the one Fredrick had. He was just about to open his mouth when she walked straight into him. "Oh I'm so sorry I sometimes have my head in the clouds as it were" the women said in a strong Irish accent 'a ginger Irish woman how stereotypical' he thought to himself.

"Oh it's quite alright Ms in fact I was hoping you could help me, I'm wondering where is everyone?"

"I think most people went to go see the Football match between the Navy and Army lads on the astro turf".

Fredrick was quite surprised at this and said "wait you have a football pitch here?"

She nodded "Oh yes and a rugby pitch it was built to keep morale up and keep the military personal stationed here fighting fit." She pointed to a sign saying football pitch "follow that and you'll be fine, now if you'll excuse me I'm off for a lie down." She brushed past him and walked off he looked at his watch he still had twenty minutes to kill so why not go and watch a bit of footie, he walked off down the corridor.

Nineteen minutes later he was standing looking out through a window near the meeting room. The match had been a close run thing with it being two all until the last sixty seconds when a young army corporal managed to head in a ball from a corner pass scoring a win for the army (much to the dismay of the naval personal).

He was now exactly on time for the meeting as he liked to be proper and not arrive a minute early or a minute late. The double door to the briefing room slid open revealing a largish square room with a large table in the middle; the roof's middle section had a pane of reinforced glass on the top so you could see the Martian sky, around the table sat a couple of men and one woman. One of the men and the women wore uniforms that identified them as members of the Royal society distinctive by the emblem of mars with a crown above it on their shoulders. At the head of the table sat an Admiral that Fredrick didn't recognise. The unknown Admiral pointed to a chair between the Major that he met when he first landed, Fredrick nodded to him and the Indian nodded back. Without the Helmet Fredrick could see he had a large handle bar moustache. The other man that Fredrick sat by wore a uniform and red beret that showed him to be a member of the royal armoured regiment.

They waited in silence for a few more people to arrive before starting the meeting. The Admiral rubbed his chin which had a small grey beard on it before speaking. "The Admiralty and by extension me, have brought you all here today to discuss a find of Earth shattering importance". The Admiral picked up a small remote and turned on a very large flat screen monitor that was hanging on the wall, the video that was on the screen was far more interesting however. The video had obviously been filmed on the surface of Mars, it showed what appeared to be a group of miners walking up a small hill to a rock face that had a rectangle shaped hole in it, It went too far back into the hillside to see how big the inside was. What was most odd however was apart from a couple of small boulders covering laying the immediate entrance to the cave the entrance seemed too clean to be a natural formation. The miners on the video seemed to agree with Fredrick's initial thoughts as they talked amongst themselves, while you couldn't see their faces however as they were wearing full face helmets.

The video skipped to where they had obviously entered the hole in the rock face and were walking through a corridor that looked ancient the red dust of the surface coated everything inside. The video then fast forwarded again to a point where the miners had turned on their torches and were all pointing them at what looked like a massive airlock, the airlock looked to be about five stories high. When the miners got close enough to touch the giant doors they seemed to power themselves up and rumbled open although the sound quality wasn't very good, Fredrick could hear the gaps of amazement from the miners he could hear one miner mumbling about how much Martian artefacts were worth. The sight that greeted them however took everyone in the briefing room's breath away sitting there in what appeared to be an immense hanger was a smaller version of the ship that crashed in Tunguska back in 1908 the Admiral stopped the video there.

The Admiral looked around the room his eyes met Fredrick for a fraction of a second then moved on. Fredrick spoke barely being able to contain his question "I knew we had found some big Martian artefact but not something this bloody big, where was that video taken and how long ago?"

The Admiral looked at Fredrick and took a sip from a mug of tea his assistant had just brought in before speaking. "That video was taken sixty miles west of here near where the borders of American, Russian and our control meet As to how long ago about two days, we would have moved sooner except we needed your Marines to secure the area. But now you're here we can move to take the site for Queen and country. Major Dhurvasula and Major Holland you will both be under the command of Leftenant Colonel Shepard for this operation". Now that Fredrick listened the Admiral sounded a slight bit Aussie. The two Majors looked towards Fredrick and gave him a nod, Major Dhurvasula flashed a brief smile. "Leftenant Colonel Fredrick your orders are as follows secure the site try not to damage any of the technology there and once secure await the arrival of the boffins." He gestured to the two Royal society members they both smiled the women who looked to be in her mid-thirties leaned over the table and shook each of the officers hands the man besides her stayed seated.

Fredrick decided to ask something, "sir I assume we are only sending a platoon sized force so as not to draw attention correct?" The Admiral nodded.

"Sir beg your pardon but why am I here? I do armoured warfare not small scale platoon actions" Major Holland said the Major sounded Canadian. In response to this question the Admiral slid over a small scroll device

On seeing what was on the screen Major Holland's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets "are…these what I think they are sir, the new power armour prototypes?" The Admiral nodded Fredrick leaned over to get a better look at what made Holland so excited the image on the screen looked slightly like the knights of medieval times except if the knights had been seven foot tall with massively oversized shoulders, and legs and what looked like clawed gauntlets.

"You will be taking five suits into the site with you and Fredrick it will be your commandos wearing them". Now Fredrick knew the real reason that he had been assigned 'bodyguards' they had actually been trained in this power armour the Admiral was giving him access to. The Admiral spoke up again "the drop ships from the Ajax will be doing an aerial insertion just outside the site one of the miners from the initial find will be your guide, form up in the main hangers in ten minutes Dismissed gentlemen" and with that Fredrick and the others left to get geared up for their foray into the unknown.

Half an hour later and drop ship carrying the power armoured troop and two shuttles carrying Shepards men were hovering near the artefact site in short order the shuttles dropped off the men and the five power armoured soldiers. Once all the men had been dropped off the shuttles took off to return to the orbiting dreadnaught H.M.S Ajax. Fredrick with the two majors and the miner who had been here previously by his side made sure his twenty seven man platoon was organised then gave the order to move out in standard patrol formation.

They had been dropped five minutes' away from the artefact sites entrance. He and the two Majors started talking to the miner who wore a classic bulky white civilian space suit (having hardly changed since the Welshman Josef Evans first stepped on the moon) while Shepard's marines scanned the landscape for any sign of Russian or American scouts although not at war with either country, a find this important could not be allowed to fall into another nation's hands.

It turned out that the miner was an Afrikaner named Christoffel from Johannesburg and had come to Mars's once the gold in South Africa started to lose its value. Once they arrived at the cliff face that housed the entrance to the artifact Fredrick just stared at it for a moment the cliff was very large.

Major Holland asked "So what's the plan sir?" Fredrick pondered this for a moment he couldn't risk anyone coming in behind them and taking them by surprise.

"The power armoured units will go in first they do have infra-red and night vision built in I assume?" Holland nodded "good, I'll also need a single fire team of ten men and we'll leave the rest of the platoon to guard the entrance, one of you will be in Charge of the men left behind" he used the built in helmet radio and informed the Platoon's Captain of the plan he said he'd send the best fire team to go with him into the alien ruins. Fredrick informed Major Dhurvasula that he would be staying outside while he seemed slightly disappointed he didn't complain.

Fredrick turned his helmets speakers up "Alright lads I've told you the plan power armour in first to make sure it's secure then Christoffel here will guide us to the big bloody ship, make sure you've set your radio's frequency to the squad band and also everyone do a check on your night vision" once everyone had do what Fredrick had asked he gave the hand signal to move out. Major Holland volunteered to take point although improper for an officer to take point Fredrick allowed his request, seeing as they were all wearing top of the line armour and had the power armoured troop backing them up Fredrick saw no danger and so they followed the five power armoured troops into the cavern.

The rock type seemed to change as they got into the cavern it was still reddish but it seemed smoother almost like a floor if it had been a floor at one time however it was in heavy disrepair now. With Christoffel giving directions the power armoured troops led the way and with their night vision turned on the group advanced deeper into what appeared to be a cave system.

After about seven or eight minutes of walking, the group arrived at a set of double circular stone doors their handles appeared to be made out of what looked like brass or something similar the power armour clad troops stopped to let Fredrick and Major Holland come and inspect the doors "That's strange these were open when we left" Christoffel said puzzled, Fredrick wondered had they just swung shut of their own accord, no they were heavy set stone doors they couldn't have.

Raising his Dominion pattern assault rifle "Major, open the doors the rest of you get back and take up positions". Major Holland slowly pulled the doors outward the sound they made as they scraped across the stone was tremendous and if anyone or thing didn't know they were here they did now.

Christoffel brushed past Fredrick and walked into the now open door way he turned around and turned his visor transparent "Don't worry boy's it's just an empty corridor, wait did…" the pitch black corridor was suddenly illuminated it was so bright that Shepards night vision couldn't handle it, he was blinded for a split second but that was all it took for all hell to break loose he heard weapons discharge and blindly threw himself to the ground.

Fredrick switched off his night vision and recoiled in shock lying right in front of him face down in a pool of blood was Christoffel, half his head had just been disintegrated and the glass that made up his visor was just bubbling on the floor, the blood was in stark contrast to the white of the space suit. Fredrick grabbed his rifle getting into a proper position he fired blindly down into the tunnel his rifle firing heavy duty armour piercing ammunition. His men were doing the same so were the power armoured units with their rapid laser cannons another reverse engineered technology which Fredrick was grateful for at this moment although the red hue of the laser shots created a hellish lighting.

The Martian corridor was lit up by weapons fire from the group of Imperial soldiers but so far there had been no return fire from the enemy, Fredrick thought too soon, as suddenly a lance of light flew over his head narrowly avoiding it, the enemy beam which was the colour of sun beams hit a marine just below the knee the armour he was wearing may as well not been there. There was no blood it just disappeared the marine fell to the floor screaming as the flesh was now exposed to the atmosphere of Mars this was causing the cells in his leg to die and it was starting to work its way up his body. An ear splitting noise came from down the corridor and out of the darkness emerged what looked like a small Tripod. In the middle of the tripods body was a small spherical object and in the centre of the sphere was a small pinprick of yellow light. Now being visible his men were easily able to hit it, the small arms seemed to be doing no damage but the laser cannons seemed to be creating large dents and scorch marks on its metal hull. The small pinprick of light in the centre of the tripod expanded and then shot out and hit the chest of a power armour wearing marine right in the chest and the man went falling onto his back. Shepard had an idea that just might work he used his helmet radio to send out a squad wide radio message "Focus fire on the source of the heat ray, I want that bloody thing dead".

The Squad shifted fire onto the source of the heat ray this seemed to affect the machine as it appeared to recoil but it continued to advance, until a laser bolt hit it directly in the source of the heat ray it seemed to make a screeching noise and then blew up. The explosion shook the tunnel causing a collapse behind that blocked the way out, red dust flew everywhere. Fredrick picked himself up from the floor he looked to his men a couple were tending to the injured Major Holland walked up to him "we lost two men sir, a private James Hale, and one of the powered armoured troopers Second Leftenant Thomas Grey" Fredrick cursed under his breath not even twenty minutes into the mission and already two men had been lost.

"Sir sir Greys alive" a Lance Corporal was shouting.

Fredrick ordered the remaining power armoured troops to watch the direction from which the tripod came in case more of the bastards arrived. He and Holland ran over to the downed armoured marine the marine had turned his visor to be transparent he seemed to be alive if breathing heavily. Fredrick looked at the chest of the man where the heat ray had hit there was a smouldering hole but it appeared to have only breached the first layer of armour but the suit still held and the wearer survived a direct hit from a Martian heat ray even if that had been a miniature of the proper thing, Grey got steadily to his feet the servo motors seeming to make a lot of noise at the effort. Grey gave Fredrick a half salute and walked to the four other power armoured troopers. Fredrick went to the body of the dead private who had flat lined during the battle due to exposure to Mar's atmosphere although there had been no blood as the beam had cauterized the end of his thigh. Major Holland walked to the cave in he tried moving a few bits of the rock but there was too much Holland walked back towards Fredrick.

Major Holland spoke up "sir I advise that we radio the rest of the platoon to come in here a dig us out and until then just sit tight" Fredrick nodded agreeing with the majors suggestion he activated his radio.

"Dhurvasula there has been a cave in and we're trapped and need help getting dug out over" the only answer was static "Dhurvasula respond, I can't raise him all I'm getting is static it's like I'm being jammed Holland try yours". Holland did his attempt yielded the same result. Fredrick clasped his gauntlets together " well we have two choices we can either shit here and rot waiting for the men to dig us out although judging by the rubble that will take quite a while, or we can continue advancing to try and find the Tunguska ship which is more fitting of the British spirit do you think not Major?" The Major sighed he then turned around to go and rally the remaining nine members of the fire team and the five power armoured troops.

Five minutes' later they were walking down the corridor that the mini tripod had come out off; they had left the dead private in there as they could not afford to be slowed down, they would be back for his body however as no one deserved to rot in this hellish place. They got to another set of double doors and expecting trouble took up positions as Holland opened the door but instead of another Tripod they were greeted with a large pitch black cavern and even with night vision activated, he couldn't see the top of the cavern which seemed to go on and on. Once all the men had filled out of the corridor they sat down and seeing no obvious way out Fredrick ordered a ten minute break. Ten minutes later Fredrick was about to order them to look for a way out when he noticed that the giant bulkhead doors from the miners videos was in edge of the cavern wall, if Fredrick hadn't watched the footage of the miners opening it he would never have seen it. He shouted to Holland who was standing four feet away "Major get your arse over here" Holland jogged over to Fredrick, Holland wiped a bit off a bit of dust that had been obscuring his visor "Major I believe I have found a way out of this cavern, you see these two bulkheads look a hell of a lot like the footage of the miners earlier foray into these tunnels, and if these door opens the same way as last time". Fredrick walked up to the giant bulkheads and pressed his gauntleted hand ever so lightly on the surface suddenly the bulkheads lit up with lines of blue light, at the same time gigantic rumble shook the area. Fredrick almost lost his footing as the two multi story bulkheads slid aside to reveal the giant hanger from the video footage along with the ship. Everyone was speechless and if Fredrick hadn't been wearing a helmet his jaw would have hit the ground but luckily Major Holland managed to sum up his thoughts perfectly "Bloody hell!"

The other men came running up, the hanger was built into a giant cylindrical cavern that couldn't have been natural someone had to have dug this out they walked down the steps onto the cavern floor which housed the five kilometre long ship. "Oi look its bloody hovering" one of the men shouted and they were right the ship had no visible supports and was hovering about ten meters off the floor of the cavern. The floor was a smooth white substance almost like marble and the walls were made out of the same red rock as the Martian surface.

Everyone was looking about in wonder and weren't paying attention to their surroundings "Keep your eyes peeled gents, we aren't out the woods yet" Fredrick said in a commanding voice, the men stopped gawping like idiots and started acting like proper marines again. With rifles raised the marines advanced in a wedge formation although in this massive open cavern that appeared to be lit by blue lights that rimmed the walls of the cavern they could see anything approaching from a long way off so there was no worry of an ambush.

"Sir over there" Holland was pointing to the edge of the cavern there was a raised circular platform that was surrounded by stairs.

"Thank you Holland, well lads I think we've found our destination, this way gents". Fredrick started towards the platform. The atmosphere and blue lighting of this place was unnatural Fredrick thought to himself, the ship just floating there defying gravity and this place just secreted ancient, it had probably existed when homo-sapiens were first bashing rocks together he noticed the footprints his boots were leaving in the thin layer of dust coating the floor.

The group got to the short set of stair's that led to the platform in the centre of it there was a three foot tall smooth obsidian obelisk lowering his rifle Fredrick walked up towards the obelisk along with Holland the rest of the men gathered around it. "So what do you think it is eh?" Holland asked, Fredrick scratched his head pondering what it could be he walked up to it. Well maybe it would work a second time. He pressed his gauntlet on the top of the obelisk almost instantly a purple light shine out the top of it. The light reformed into two wavy lines parallel of edge other 'was this alien writing' Fredrick thought to himself. The men almost lost their balance when the platform suddenly lifted off into the air. One of the men a Kwi Sargent had lost his balance and fallen flat on his arse, "oh so it's a bloody lift".

They ascended for about a minute until they reached a circular hole in the roof of the cavern which the lift slotted into perfectly just before they passed through it "so I presume this is our stop sir" Holland said with a half-smile.

They went through the circular slot and stopped. It appeared that they had reached some kind of control room there were windows that looked out into the cavern and the walls were lined with terminals with the same purple lighting covering it. Fredrick assumed that the purple lighting was a sort of holographic interface. "Um sir you might want to look over there" Fredrick turned to where he was pointing and was terrified to see there were two of the six foot tall mini tripods that they had fought earlier flanking another obsidian obelisk, and both were looking straight at him.

'Well I'm going to die but I will face my death like a true English gentlemen' the expected fiery death never came however they just stood there observing him and his men. The marines all had their rifles raised and pointed at the Martian machines but no one dared fire.

Without taking his eyes off the tripods Holland asked "Orders sir?" Just as he was about to respond the black obelisk activated and a transparent purple hologram appeared of what looked like the Martian skeletons that were in the museums on Earth except with flesh. It was humanoid about seven feet tall, as tall as a human in power armour but not nearly as bulky with two long thin arms with four long spindly fingers. It wore robes that resembled Roman or Egyptian clothing. Its face was the most interesting aspect however, the things face had four eyes two large ones where a humans would be and two smaller ones besides the larger ones. It was bald and instead of a mouth had a mass of what looked like tentacles. The thing seemed to stand up straighter one of the marines fired off a round that went straight through it 'so it was a hologram'. The two tripods turned to face the young marine who had fired, the holograms brow seemed to furrow.

"Please refrain from discharging your weapons in this room human soldier". The marines just stood there dumbfounded the thing had just spoke in clear un-accented English.

Fredrick decided to clear his throat then spoke "you…you can speak English?" The hologram turned to meet Shepard's eyes it seemed to be examining him "I have been monitoring your race's radio signals since you first set foot on Kalute or as your kind call it Mars and have managed to adapt a translation algorithm". Fredrick didn't know how to respond this thing had been watching them?

"Umm what are you are you alive?" The Martian hologram seemed to consider his question for a moment

"I am Ash'ska Artificial intelligence designated Solace, my task was to monitor all the creator evacuation launch facilities on this planet". A functioning A.I and a Martian ai at that oh the boffins were going to drool over this discovery once they got here.

Fredrick decided to ask the million pound question "why did you invade Earth why didn't you try peaceful communication or something other than mass murder?"

The A.I seemed to shimmer for a few seconds and lines of code seemed to appear over the things body for a brief instant it was then replaced with a map of what looked like the Milky Way it then zoomed into what was called the Orion arm if Fredrick remembered correctly from school. The map then zoomed onto the Sol system and a map of the solar system appeared except where Mars would be there was a planet with oceans and covered in greenery "When our life ships first arrived in this system about sixty-five million of your years ago Mars was a lush life filled planet, our ships landed here as Earth had just suffered a severe asteroid impact and so Mars was judged the best planet for the cryo-installations to be built. But once we awoke in the year fifteen-sixty we discovered that this planet had lost the majority of its atmosphere and its core had ceased plate tectonics. Not as many of our population had survived freezing as I had predicted" the ai paused "there was…an error. Upon waking the shock of discovering that half of their species had not survived the cryogenic process made the creators become single minded on escaping Mars they became convinced enslaving your race and taking Earth would ensure victory for this current cycle they saw potential in your race, your warlike and aggressive nature led to idea we would be able to breed your race as a soldier species. The creators construed immense mass accelerator cannons to send our adapted construction units to Earth, as our ships fusion reactors shut down due to the demands of having to power our cryogenic installations for millions of years; to keep a body in suspended animation requires extreme amounts of energy".

"Wait those were just your construction units?"

One of the marines said the A.I looked at him and said "Correct human your race is so observant clearly, we had to use re purposed construction units as all our proper military forces had remained on our home world Kal'ath holding the enemy at bay while a few dozen ships escaped."

Fredrick asked "what kind of foe were you fighting that you needed to turn us into a enslaved soldier race to fight it with"

"We were fighting the enemy" the map of the solar system changed to a quick succession of images showing the destruction of cities and Fredrick wasn't sure but he thought he caught a glimpse of what looked like a huge onyx skeletal hand descending onto an alien city.

"Yes but who were the enemy?" The images of devastation changed back to the form of the Martian.

"The enemy are the foe of all organics and are beyond your human comprehension, for every one our ships destroyed five more seemed to take its place. We thought we had prepared we had been given two years warning, two years of a military construction program not seen before or since, everyday of every hour our ship yards constructed ships but it was not enough. Our race fell the plan was to rise again but as you can see it failed and the last Sunno died of starvation four years before your species landed on this planet. My last directive although I know not why was to help your species in any way I could. The data and technology in this facility and others like it around the planet should provide you with a head start for this cycle sending mass relay activation signal now. Prepare yourself for the arrival". And with that the hologram disappeared and the roof of the cavern opened and the cavern floor began to rise with the ship, judging from the terminals the same thing was happening all over the planet.

"Wait what cycle?"

No one answered Fredrick would have to say this would have to be the signal strangest experience of his life. As the room they were in reached the surface Holland came up to Fredrick and said "well I'm glad that's the end of that". Fredrick chuckled to himself under his breath as the Martian sun rise rose over a mountain in the distance "No Holland, no this is just the beginning".

Next chapter is Enter the Hastings.

And the start of the Mass effect story also excuse me if this chapter had a lot of errors my beta was not available at the time I wrote this.

Codex entry: Tunguska event.

The Tunguska event was the name given to a crash landing of an alien (presumably Martian) ship in the Tunguska region of the Russian Empire in 1908. The Russians attempted to keep this find to themselves as an edge in technology would allow the Russians to dominate the planet. It wasn't too long however before spies of the other major nations discovered the Russian attempts at a cover up. A multinational league of nations made up of the British Empire, Imperial Germany, France and the United States threated to declare war, and forcibly make Russia share out the technology equally unless the Russians signed a treaty giving international scientists access to the crash site. The Russians held off the decision until the very last minute. As hot headed as the Tsar was he was not willing to go to war against every other major power on the planet.

Codex entry: Martian border war.

The Martian border war was a brief conflict that took place towards the end of the period known as the scramble for mars. The border war was the result of months of tension between the Russian and British Empires primarily over the region around Olympus Mons. This tension primarily arose out of the discovery of large eezo deposits under the area. Although it did not turn into a full scale war it did damage Anglo-Russian relations massively and pushing the British to become more aligned with the Greater German Reich.

Codex entry: Andrew Scarlet

Andrew Scarlet as a part of the British Drake Mars mission was the first Imperial and the third human to step foot on the Martian he was beaten by a narrow margin by the Germans and Americans respectively.


	3. Chapter two:Enter the Hastings

Please review honest criticism is the only way I can improve.

Chapter two: Enter the Hastings

Shepard was on Elysium again it was strange since he didn't remember how he had got here, or why he was here. The colours were all pronounced with the blue sky being unnaturally blue and the green grass he was standing in was too bright to be real. The whole place felt other worldly, the hill he was standing on was overlooking the city of Illyria, the city was burning as what looked like orbital artillery rained down onto the shining glass skyscrapers. He wanted to run to get out of there but his feet seemed to be rooted to the spot. It was then he noticed he was in his old khaki armour, but he hadn't been equipped with that since the Batarian attack on Elysium*. It was just then he felt a slight tap on his shoulder he turned around but recoiled in shock. Standing in front of him was Liz she was just standing there staring at him she was wearing the same khaki armour that she had worn the last time he had seen her alive. "How you're….dead?"

She looked like she had in the hours leading to the Batarian attack on Illyria with straight shoulder length blonde hair and her crystal clear blue eyes. The ground seemed to rumble he turned around; the orbital artillery was getting closer to their position. "Liz we have to...". Her face suddenly warped, it appeared there was a bullet hole through her cheek and there was blood trickling down from her nose there was a large bloody scratch that seemed to go through her left eye which had now turned milky white the blonde hair was now a tangled mess sprinkled with blood, the union jack on her chest plate had three drops of blood on it. Just as he was about to go to her the ground shook again, Shepard looked up there was a bright light and then, nothing.

Shepard awoke with a start, he looked around alarmed as he was currently floating six feet above his bed and had almost hit the ceiling he focused and deactivated his biotics. Once he calmed down once he realized he was in his flat sitting up in his own bed. With sweat trickling down his brow he cupped his hands to his face and took a long sigh. The dreams had been happening more frequently recently, it probably had something to do with the three year anniversary of the attack on Elysium coming up next month. Deciding he wasn't going to get anymore sleep Shepard decided to get up and get dressed. "Lights" the flats lights turned on, he then put on the nearest available clothes which happened to be a red shirt, black hoodie and his Royal marine commando digital camo combat trousers. Once he was done with that he decided to check the time as he had to be at RAF Northolt spaceport for nine a.m.

He picked up his holo scroll device the time was six a.m. and the date was June 5th 2183, two hundred and eighty seven years after the attempted Martian invasion of Earth and twenty three years after the bloody three yearlong war to retake Shanxi from the Turians*. Shepard thought about what to do he could wait here for a couple of hours then get a taxi to Northolt or he could walk there which would take about two hours in the end he decided to grab a bite to eat before setting out. His Flat was open with the only room being a small bathroom with a toilet and shower but other than that everything was in one large open room. He walked over to the small kitchen area which had the only window in the flat as a back wall. He asked for the A.I* installed in the flat to roll up the blinds covering the window.

He was greeted by the London* skyline with a dozen three thousand foot buildings, dark clouds and rain hitting the window. "Jeeves" a hologram of a Victorian butler appeared three feet away from Shepard it spoke in a perfect King's English.

"Yes sir, what do you require?" The Jeeves system was a customisable A.I that could be installed in buildings, cars, ships or most electronics. Their avatar and personality were custom as well.

"Jeeves please check my e-mails and delete junk mail as is appropriate once that is done forward any relevant messages to my scroll, and make sure you delete any messages from that damn journalist, don't know how that bitch got my email address anyway".

The avatar of the A.I seemed to get brighter for a brief moment, "I have done as you wished sir do you require anything else?" Shepard shook his head and the A.I's hologram disappeared, Shepard deciding that toast would be the best breakfast put two pieces of bread into the toaster the toasting took seconds as the toaster used miniature and very weak versions of the heat rays the military used. Once he buttered his toast and grabbed a plate he walked into the middle of the room and sat down on the sofa "telly on" a large holographic screen sprang to life from the wall facing the "go to EBC* news" a serious looking young Indian anchor women came on screen she spoke in a very light Indian accent.

"And in other news, the new line of Royal Navy stealth frigates is to be commissioned later today, the Hasting or Normandy frigate line is a co-developed project between the Royal navy and the Marine nationale of the French Empire. There are so far two ships of this class one in the Royal navy dubbed the Hastings and one in the Marine nationale dubbed the Normandie we will now go to Julie who is currently outside RAF Northolt, Julie".

The Image shifted to a smiling young woman holding an umbrella standing outside the RAF Northolt entrance she had long purple hair and was wearing a brown trench coat. Shepard didn't get the thing with purple hair it was a new fad that was sweeping the fashion world or so he had been told. The woman was an Aussie and started speaking in an excited voice, "Thank you Diana, Well what makes the Hastings special is not only its stealth capabilities, but is that it's the first ship below a the size of a heavy cruiser to house a Alcubierre drive* meaning it will no longer require the use of Mass relays to travel long distances, while the Russian, Chinese, American, German and Japanese governments are also working on Naval stealth programs the Hastings/Normandie class are the first successful attempt at using Naval stealth. When the Citadel ambassador to the British Empire was asked for the council's opinion on this the Citadel declined comment."

The woman seemed to paused for breath before continuing, "what also makes this a special ship is that both the Hero of the battle of relay 342 Captain David Anderson and the Lion of Elysium Leftenant Commander John Shepard, will be serving abroad the Captain will command the vessel while the Commander will be in charge of the Royal marine contingent, all I have to say to this Diana is that I pity anyone who tries to attack the Hastings back to you in the studio".

"T.V off" the screen disappeared; how the bloody hell had they found out that he was to be on the Hastings? One of the crew must have let it slip, God he really hated cameras they always asked him about Elysium and it always bought up painful memories that he'd rather keep buried. Having eaten his toast Shepard decided to head out it was still slightly dark and raining but he wanted to be there before the majority of the city woke up. He put his shoes on, grabbed his duffel bag and headed towards the door he took one last look at his flat, this would be the last time he would see it for about a year Jeeves avatar suddenly appeared "good bye sir, have a pleasant trip" and as quick as he had appeared he disappeared and with that Shepard with his hood up and hoodie zipped up walked out of his door.

After an uneventful walk down to the lobby of the skyscraper he lived and an even more boring ten minute walk through the rain to the bus station Shepard got on the bus, people called it a bus but it was more like a short range shuttle as it used Mass effect fields to move through the sky. In the ten minutes it took to get to the other side of London Shepard managed to take in the sights London had changed so much and not at all in the last three hundred years nineteenth century Victorian architecture lay next to the Huge towers of glass that were modern skyscrapers but the tallest building in the city was the Imperial tower a symbol of three centuries of Empire. The bus touched down, at a station ten minutes away from Northolt. He checked the time it was about seven thirty now and the city was starting to wake up as he noticed an ever increasing number of air cars in the sky and regular cars on the roads and just people on the streets.

He finally made it to the Northolt space port entrance only to find the reporter from the news was still there she was currently talking to two men in the khaki uniform of the army. Shepard pulling his hood down lower so as to cover his eyes attempted to walk past without being noticed, unfortunately that was not to be the case and further proof that if there was a god it hated him as a sudden gust of wind blew his hood down and the purple haired reporter from earlier had been looking right at him.

"Commander John Shepard" she rushed over and they were right in front of the entrance and he wasn't willing to rugby tackle his way through her he sighed. "Commander Can I ask you a few questions please" he was about to open his mouth to say no when she turned her camera drone it hovered to the side of them both so it got her and him in it's shot . "So Commander Shepard you are noted as being particularly media shy why is that?" Shepard thought about his answer, he could tell her it was none of the media's damn business what he did but he thought that would make him out to be too much of a wanker so he settled on the cheesy hero thing that he thought she wanted.

"I'm just a soldier doing his job I don't deserve all this attention" that seemed to satisfy her as she seemed to smile and nod.

"So how do you feel serving abroad the Hastings Commander? It is a top of the line ship after all", Shepard replied instantly.

"The Hastings is a hell of a ship, fast quiet and deadly although I am not at liberty to divulge her weapons, as I'm sure you'll understand but I am honored to be serving on a ship with Captain Anderson".

She nodded "you and the Captain know each other correct?" Shepard gave her a nod.

"He was the one who recommended me for Excalibur commando training and for that I'm thankful, I'm sorry miss but I really must go for king and country I'm sure you understand" he said the last bit quite sarcastically.

"Of course Commander, thanks for the interview and be careful out there" she finished with a wink and started to walk back to the EPC air van parked on the curb. Shepard watched her walk away for a little longer then he meant to, he had to admit she wasn't bad for a reporter, not bad at all he had to say.

He entered Northolt spaceport through one of four sets of double doors. It was quite empty currently only a few people walking this way and that, this was because the only ship currently docked here was the Hastings. He checked the time it was currently ten minutes past eight, so he had fifty minutes to kill great. He may as well head to the boarding area and wait there. He walked to the boarding area which looked a bit like an airport terminal with lines of seats for military personal there were a couple of vending machines and an extra high calorie one for biotics so Shepard made a start for that as his stomach was already grumbling as biotics burned up calories much faster. As he was selecting weather to have the chocolate bar or a cup of tea someone said behind him in a Canadian accent "biotic too huh?" Shepard turned around there standing in front of him was a man in a blue marine jumpsuit with the bars of a leftenant on his right shoulder and the purple orb signifying he was a biotic on right shoulder. Shepard smiled and lifted himself four feet into the air using his biotics.

"I don't know I could be" Shepard deactivated his biotics then offered his hand to the frowning marine standing in front of him "Commander Shepard and you are?"

At this the marine's demeanor changed completely he instantly took Shepards out stretched hand. "Commander Shepard I'm Kaiden Alenko pleased to meet you sir" he saluted; Shepard noticed his voice sounded quite sore like he was suffering with a sore throat. "Umm Commander if you're meant to be on the Hastings why are you here?"

Shepard gave him a puzzled look "This is the place where I'm supposed to embark the Hastings isn't it?"

Alenko shook his head "no this is bay A12 we are embarking from B25 which is all the way down there" Alenko pointed to a sign that Shepard could just make out from this distance even with his optical implants.

Shepard face palmed "I'm a bloody idiot, wait are you on the Hastings too?" Alenko nodded. Shepard wondered "So why are you all the way down here then?"

Alenko pointed to the vending machine "the one down there is out of order" both Shepard and Alenko shared a smile at this.

Once they had got their food from the vending machine, Alenko buying a pasty and chocolate bar and Shepard grabbing a plastic cup full of tea they started to walk towards B25. On the way they chatted about previous deployments and their expectations about serving abroad the Hastings. "This should be fun I've been going mad with boredom, four months of leave is too much."

Alenko looked puzzled at this "you don't like leave?"

"It's not that I don't like it, it's just I'm not used to civilian life I guess, I joined the Royal marines straight out of high school then spent a couple of years at Sandhurst doing officer training I guess I'm just not used to the normal routine of civilians anymore I guess seven years in the military will do that to you".

Alenko nodded "I can see where you coming from, I mean you're out there seeing the wonders of space then it just goes to this boring planet side life". Just from this brief conversation Shepard could tell he could grow to like Alenko.

The pair finally got to embarking bay B25 and unlike the last one this one was full of people mostly navy personal but there were about four marines in the corner of the room talking to one another. Shepard and Alenko walked over to them as soon as they noticed Shepard they all ceased all conversation, and saluted him, not wanting to be viewed as the grouchy old officer after all he was only twenty five.

Shepard said "at ease lads I'm not officially at work yet so if you want to insult me get it out the way now". This raised a laugh from the four men they all introduced themselves. One was a brown haired man from Wales called Daveth Evans another man was from the off world colony of New Albion his name was Fergus smith a third was a young Australian with sandy ha coloured hair called Josh Thomas and the last was a native Londoner he was bald but had stubble on his skin jutting out from his black skin his name was Alfred March although he said everyone just calls him Alf.

With introductions out of the way the six marines just chatted to each other for the ten or so minutes until the Hastings was ready for its maiden flight or shake down run. Suddenly a female Aussie voice came over the P.A system. "Will all members of the H.M.S Hastings crew please proceed through the up the stiars and proceed over the jet bridge and await instructions from the captain of the vessel that is all".

And with that double doors that led to the Hastings opened the crew picked up their small collection of belongings and walked through the doors and up a flight of stairs that led to the jet bridge that connected to the airlock of the Hastings. The whole crew of about thirty people walked over the jet bridge and went through the air lock in small groups for decontamination. Shepards group of Marines were the last ones through, and what he saw took his breath away.

The Hastings was amazing unlikely the usual Royal Navy ships the Hastings was smooth shapes it looked more like a fighter then a frigate. The hallway Shepard was currently standing in was flanked by dozens of sets of orange coloured holographic consoles with some of the crew already hard at work. "Bloody hell" Alf had said what everyone was thinking it was amazing.

"Will all marines apart from Shepard report to the armoury" 'that sounded like Anderson' Shepard thought as the marines started down the hall towards get to the lift towards the back of the ship.

"Well I guess we'll see you in a bit Shepard" Kaiden said as he passed Shepard

"Yeah sure, see you in a bit mate" Shepard replied. Shepard decided to check out the cockpit sitting in the pilot's seat was a man wearing an American style baseball cap with a slight beard. Just as Shepard was about to introduce himself until a hologram of a women with shoulder length brown hair, with eyes that looked like liquid mercury and wearing a skin-tight jumpsuit appeared right in front of Shepard.

He almost jumped out of his skin "hello Shepard" the A.I said in a strangely nice synthetic voice Shepard assumed this must be the ships A.I.

"hello you startled me, I assume you are the A.I for the Hastings?" The A.I's avatar seemed to smile at this.

"Correct, I am the enhanced defence intelligence I am responsible for controlling the point defences, broad side weapons, and the accuracy of the main forward batteries in addition to that I also control the cyber warfare suites. I am also responsible for more mundane tasks like power regulation"

"That's Impressive but do you have another name enhanced defence intelligence is a bit of a mouthful to say in the morning…how about EDI?" the avatar seemed to tip her head to the side slightly and seemed to be contemplating Shepards suggestion. This A.I seemed to be much more advanced than most ones that Shepard had seen in the past as the body language of EDI avatar was remarkably life like Shepard also summarised that the ship was riddled with holo projectors allowing EDI to walk around the ship as it were.

"Yes EDI is a sufficient acronym call me by EDI if you wish, Shepard there appears to be a problem in the main batteries firing a algorithms that will cause it to go off target by 0.000001% I must rectify it, this has been an interesting chat". Just before EDI avatar disappeared she gave him a slight smile.

Just as Shepard was about to go introduce himself to the pilot Anderson came over the P.A, "Shepard report to the conference room". Shepard upon hearing Anderson started towards the conference room following the map on his military scroll device. He paused as he passed the galaxy map on his way there, he loved that thing. Most of the crew had settled in now and were busy working at one computer terminal or another. He finally got to the conference room and the sliver door with the coat of arms of the United Kingdom on it, the door slid open and the first thing Shepard saw was a Turian.

Shepard went for his side arm until he remembered it wasn't there, standing next to the Turian was Captain Anderson he was wearing the black with gold trimming uniform, of a Captain of his majesty's navy. Shepard spoke up "sir?"

"Commander, This is Nihilus a Turian Spectre."

At this point Nihilus spoke in his gravely Turian voice "It is nice to meet you Commander your actions against the Batarian forces in the battle of Elysium are legendary even among the Spectre".

Shepard had to speak up "sir why is there a Turian and at that a Spectre on one of the most advanced ships in the fleet?" Anderson sighed at this.

"Contrary to what the news has been telling the public this was not just a joint Anglo-French project the Council also helped fund and design it, Our scientists and engineers had been failing miserably at stealth in space but the council had cracked the secret of space stealth years ago and so in exchange for some of our primitive beam technology and a more favourable trade treaty we got our stealth. While we may not officially be part of the council or even an associate race our two economies are heavily intertwined, and diplomats on both sides have the desire to smooth over relations, to avoid a repeat of the War for Shanxi and the diplomats think they have found a way. I think I'll let Nihilus explain this to you".

Nihilus took a step towards Shepard, Nihilus cut an imposing sight he was at least a foot taller than Shepard and those face markings gave the alien quite an intimidating look. "The Spectres have been ordered by the council to evaluate a human for the Spectres and the Captain has recommended you, you are one of the best soldiers humanity have to offer and would be a perfect candidate for the Spectres"

Shepard was speechless the Spectres were those council black ops agents who were above the law, and why Anderson throw Shepard to the Aliens as a diplomatic ploy he felt slightly betrayed at what Anderson had done. "Sir why would you do this without consulting me? Also I can't work for an organisation where I will be asked to put an alien government's interests above the ones of the Empire, and if that be the case I have no choice but to decline your offer".

Nihilus spoke "Shepard the Spectres work for the good of all and you will not be forced to do anything you do not want to, but think about it Shepard as a Spectre you could serve your Empires needs far more then you can currently also the other Empires of your species are currently competing for this position of well and if the British fail then I will have to go to them".

Shepard asked Anderson "but sir I was under the impression we didn't recognise Spectre authority in Imperial space none of the other Country's do either" Anderson nodded.

"Correct we don't recognise alien Spectres but if your human, the Imperial Parliament and the Monarchy have agreed to recognise your authority in our space, anyway Shepard go armour up we are about to get underway to our colony of Eden prime, A.I."

The avatar of EDI appeared besides Shepard so Shepards guess of the Hastings having projectors all over the interior was correct. "Yes Captain what do you require?" EDI said in her sing song voice Shepard really did like it.

"Tell Joker to initiate take off sequence and set a course for Eden prime as for you Shepard dismissed". Both EDI and Shepard said yes sir at the same time.

As Shepard left the room he felt the ship shake slightly EDIs voice rang out over the P.A "orbit archived commencing FTL jump in 3..2..1". Impossible Shepard thought there was no way they could have gone into orbit that quickly how fast was this ship?

Shepard headed to the lift and selected the living quarter's floor which was where all the crew slept, the Hastings had Three floors the one he was currently on which was the CIC which also included the mess and clinic the other was the livings quarters which also housed the ships armoury and the last was the engineering and shuttle bay floor. After a painfully slow lift decent (were the lifts meant to be that slow?) Shepard set out to find the Marine commanders cabin, this floor was t shaped with a single long corridor with the rooms of the normal crew and marines on either side and on other side at the top the Marine commander's cabin and the Captain's cabin. Shepards was on the right side of the vessel. As the door slid open Shepard was struck by how large it was it had a small double bed, a desk with a computer terminal and what looked like a small cupboard in the wall there was also a small bathroom with a shower in a to his right.

He smiled laying there on the bed was a brand new top of the line set of black Albion assault armour on the chest piece was a small union jack and on the right paludron was a simple three letter word in a white font which really stood out against the black of the armour it read simply 'Royal Marine Commando'. Shepard realised this must be the old man's way of saying sorry for the throwing the Spectre thing on him without warning, "oh Anderson you are most defiantly forgiven" he had read about these suits there shields had been known to stand up to hand held rockets.

EDI's singsong voice rang out over the P.A "We will be arriving at the Charon relay in approximately one hour twenty five minutes". So Shepard had time to kill again he decided to unpack and then take a quick shower, he didn't know why but he had a bad feeling about this mission to Eden prime.

Next chapter: Old one.

Codex entry: Batarian attack on Elysium.

The Batarian attack on the British colony of Elysium was the culmination of months of tension between the Batarian Hegemony and the British empire over colonization rights.

The Batarians struck on the morning of June 8th 2180 the majority of the colony's population was still sleeping when the alien forces commenced their attack. The Batarians hit the capital with orbital strikes killing hundreds in minutes the small Royal navy force in orbit was no match for the large Batarian fleet which included three dreadnaughts the Batarians landed troops all over the anti-air defences around the capital of Illyria were two strong and so the Batarians landed outside the city and had to advance through the foot hills surrounding the city. The Troops of the 'Xeno slayers' Royal marines regiment were the only military forces in the capital at the time the battle raged in the foothills for three hours the Marines killed hundreds of Batarian soldiers but in the end superior numbers won out and the Batarians over whelmed the marines position. One Lieutenant John Shepard held off an entire platoon of enemy soldiers and was about to be overwhelmed himself until off plant reinforcements arrived in the form of an entire Royal Navy Battle group The large Batarian fleet even in the possession of three dreadnaughts were no match for the more numerous and technologically advanced fleet of the Royal navy. The kinetic barriers of the Batarians proved to provide no resistance to the energy weapons of the Imperial ships and the weapons cut through them like butter through a hot knife. The Batarian forces on the planet quickly surrendered once news of the complete annihilation of the Batarian fleet reached them. Unfortunately for the Batarian prisoners upon seeing the bodies of Imperial citizens littering the streets of the cities of Elysium the Imperial forces committed mass executions every so often there are inquiries into the conduct of the soldiers who committed the executions but these quickly fade away.

At the time of the attack the Hegemony was still a member of the Citadel but after the attack the council not wanting to risk war with the British Empire and due to the Terra concordant (which stated that if any alien power started hostilities against any of the powers of Earth the other powers which come to the defence of the wronged party) the other Human empires withdrew their support from the Batarian and exiled them from the council. The subsequent war ended in a swift Human victory when the Batarian home world of Kar'shan was bombarded after a swift naval battle with the main guns of a dozen human dreadnaughts the three largest present being the H.M.S Queen Elizabeth, U.S.S California and the Russian ship Navarin the largest cities of the planet were reduced to ash. After this event the council seeing the power of humanity stepped up its own military programs and try and create a more friendly relationship with the human powers.

Codex entry: Humanity's use of

Humans use A.I for almost every task imaginable from piloting ships to managing cities. Human A.I has more organic like behaviour then any A.I that the Citadel has managed to create. Nowhere is the use of more extensive then in Russian space. The Russian empire has created some of the most advanced A.I and combat drones to date. The Tsar Nicholas III entire royal guard are robotic A.I and serve him faithfully.

The extensive use of A.I has led to cyberspace becoming another theatre of warfare with the militaries of humanity creating smarter and smarter A.I in order to compete.

Codex entry: London

London is capital of the British Empire and seat of the Imperial parliament located on Earth on the island known as Great Britain. Three hundred years ago during the Martian invasion of Earth London was ruined, having been the epicentre of a large Martian attack. After the end of the Martian war London was rebuilt and with the influx of new technology the city was built up to be greater than before. In the modern day is the centre of Imperial power with thousand foot skyscrapers being the norm in the city, the city's population as it stands in 2183 is thirty million souls. A little known fact is that at all times there is a fleet stationed above London nicknamed the home Islands fleet which is a name that harpers back to the days of the ocean going Royal navy.

I will write a mini chapter codex entry on the War for Shanxi.

Please review it's the only way I'll get better and please share your suggestions.


	4. Chapter three: Old one

As always please review, I will do the mini chapter codex entry on the war for Shanxi soon.

Chapter three: Old one.

After taking a shower and gearing up in his Albion assault armour. The helmet was your normal fair, but the front of the helmet had a retractable full face plate which also functioned as a gas mask and allowed it to perform in vacuum or low atmosphere planets. Shepard decided to use the magnetic clips on his belt and attached the helmet to them, so being fully armoured up all he needed now was weapons.

He went to leave his room the door sliding open as he did, he walked straight into a woman carrying what appeared to be bed sheets, she fell to the floor with a yelp. As the amour had servo joints and increased Shepard's strength tenfold (he could lift a car above his head with no problem) he forgot he had to be careful while wearing powered suits of armour. He leaned down and deactivated the power in his gauntlet so he wouldn't crush her fingers when he offered his hand to help her up. "I am so sorry, I didn't see you there are you alright?" She took his offered hand she was at least a foot shorter then Shepard and had her red hair tied into a single ponytail "yeah I'm fine sir don't worry about it, I was just coming to let you know I've got these spare bed sheets for you" in response to his puzzled look she said "my jobs sort of like a house keeper I change bedding, clean rooms and help wash up in the mess that kind of thing". He thought this was quite fancy on all the ships he had served on in the past the bedding and cleanliness of his rooms had been his responsibility and his alone.

"Well I need to get to the CIC, so carry on Miss" she nodded then went into his room to do her job while Shepard headed towards the lift. He decided against going to the armoury just yet as unlike the weapons of the council, Imperial weapons didn't fold away as that meant they had to sacrifice round calibre which caused Imperial weapons to pack more punch (as a heavy round enhanced with the mass effect did quite a lot of damage) but fire at a slower rate. Shepard made it to the lift but just as it was about to close Daveth stopped it at the last second, just like Shepard he was wearing Albion assault armour too, so Anderson must have given his whole squad the suits. "Alright sir, just heading to the mess to grab a bite to eat, also I didn't say it before but I am honoured to be able to serve under the Lion of Elysium". Shepard gave him an awkward smile, he hated that name he was sure the man meant well but he hated the name regardless. "Err thank you but just call me Shepard when we're off duty". The lift still hadn't arrived at the CIC 'were they meant to move this slow?' Shepard leaning back on the wall of the lift asked "So where you from Daveth you're from Wales judging from your accent correct?" Daveth nodded "yeah I'm Welsh, what about you sir where do you hail from?"

"Well my mum gave birth to me while she was stationed on the colony of New Eire but both my parents are from Gloucester and that's where I spent most of my childhood so that's where I say I'm from". Just as it looked like Daveth was about to open his mouth the lift pinged and the doors slid open. "Well see you sir going to and grab me a sandwich" at the mention of food Shepards stomach grumbled "see you later Corporal" and with that the young Welsh soldier left. Shepard made his way to the cockpit he wanted to see the Hastings pass through the Charon relay he never got tired of seeing those strange alien structures the Citadel maintained they were built by the race known as Prothans, 'the fools' the Citadel government always dismissed the evidence from the Martian archives to the contrary. When he arrived the cockpit he was surprised to see the Turian standing behind the pilot's chair "hitting relay in 3…2…1 mark" and the Hastings was dragged into the embrace of the relay by a tendril of blue light then shot out when Shepard looked again the star constellations around the ship had changed.

"Stabilizers check shields and kinetic barriers check stealth systems are engaged and drift with the stabilizers engaged, just under eight hundred". Shepard noticed something the pilot sounded like an American. Eight hundred is amazing your Captain will be pleased" and with that the Turian turned and walked back the way Shepard had come from. "I hate that guy" Shepard could now say the pilot was defiantly an American "Nihlus called you amazing so you hate him?" Shepard was surprised to see Kaiden in the co-pilot's seat "no I hate him because I wasn't made aware until about an hour ago that we had a god damn alien super spy on board and also why the hell if this is just a shakedown run is he here hell why are we fully crewed? A skeleton crew would be cheaper and more cost effective something more is going on I'm telling you". Shepard agreed with the pilot surely if they wanted to evaluate him for the Spectres they could just head straight to the Citadel but instead they were going to Eden prime something didn't add up. Kaiden seemed to notice Shepard standing there "what do you think about it Commander?" not knowing whether or not he was allowed to tell the others about the Spectre evaluation instead said "I agree with…sorry what's your name pilot? We haven't been introduced yet" the pilot seemed to crane his head to look at Shepard "I'm Joker and before you ask, yes both my parents are American and yes I was born on a US colony but because of my condition the USN wouldn't let me be a pilot, when I learned that the RN accepted disabled personal as long as it didn't affect their duties I jumped at British citizenship faster than a snake on a rabbit".

Shepard was about to ask what disability it was that Joker had when EDI's voice came over the P.A "will Commander Shepard please report to the conference room, as for the rest of the crew please assume battle stations this is not a drill and will all marines gear up then report to the shuttle bay that is all".

"Well told you it was going to be bigger than we thought see you guys2 Joker said to both Kaiden and Shepard while Kaiden ran to the lift Shepard headed to the conference room. The door slid open revealing both Captain Anderson and Nihlus watching footage of a battle on the floating holo screen the timer in the corner told Shepard the video had been on for about five seconds. What appeared to be a dozen soldiers wearing the khaki amour of the army under heavy fire from an unseen foe the camera focused on a Beowulf mech* that was firing its main guns and then was promptly destroyed by what appeared to be a fighter aircraft of a make Shepard didn't recognise. A soldier directly in front of the camera man shoved his face in to the camera and started asking for reinforcements he was then shot through the side of the head. A female soldier seemed to push the camera man to the floor she told the camera to stay down. It was at this point a screeching noise seemed to block out all other sound, the camera peeked above the rock it was currently behind and what it saw gave Shepard a shiver what appeared to be a giant onyx skeletal hand was descending through the clouds the fingers of the ship appeared to be wraped in tendrils of red lighting, the power required to bring a ship of dreadnaught size in atmosphere was tremendous. Four fighter aircraft of the Royal air force appeared to make a strafing run on the giant ship but were shot down by a swarm of the same fighter craft that had destroyed the Beowulf.

At this point the video cut to static Anderson noticing Shepard standing there said "we received this message from the Eden prime dig site about five minutes' ago". Shepard was confused dig site what dig site? Anderson then explained I think it's time to tell the Commander why exactly we are heading to Eden prime" Anderson looked to Nihlus seeking agreement Nihlus nodded. "We are heading to Eden prime to retrieve a Prothean beacon, Prothean artefacts are very rare usually hold powerful technology" Nihlus said. If this had technology why the hell were we giving it to the Citadel? Anderson answered his unspoken question "We have no idea how to work Prothean technology but the Council have offered us a very favourable trade treaty for our corporation's and colonization rights in the traverse if we give it to them". Shepard supposed that made sense "do we know who's attacking the colony sir?" Anderson shook his head.

Suddenly the holo screen came to life again as what looked like an officer on a ships bridge appeared on the screen "Hastings this is Rear admiral Salmond of the Dreadnaught H.M.S Australia, our fleet is currently being engaged by a massive fleet of unknown origin, their shields are resistant to both our energy weaponry and our mass accelerators we need your ship in the fray. We are in orbit over the capital we're holding our own but not for much longer also be advised Hastings the enemy have a dreadnaught of massive size and power it is the same size as the H.M.S Aeron*".

"We hear you Rear admiral; once I've dropped my marines off on the surface we'll join you immediately" said Anderson. This displeased the Rear admiral who seemed to get a slightly angry expression on his face "Negative Hastings I am ordering you fall in to formation". Anderson seemed to make his hands into to fists at the man's orders, Anderson said "I am on a mission of significant importance code Nightingale" at this the man on the screens eyes went wide "Of course Hastings carry on but bloody be quick about it, I've already lost two cruisers and a handful of frigates to these bastards H.M.S Australia out".

The video link to the Australia was cut to be replaced with a rotating British coat of arms. Anderson turned to Shepard "Shepard grab a weapon and report to the shuttle bay this mission just got a lot more complicated".

After a hurried stop by the armoury to grab an assault rifle and pistol Shepard headed to the shuttle bay as fast as he could. Once there Shepard saw his four marines and leftenant Alenko were all waiting for him they were all wearing the same Albion assault armour with their faceplates down so Shepard could only tell who each one was by the name tag on the left part of their chest plates. This reminded Shepard he needed to put on his own helmet once it had connected with his suit the faceplate extended with a hiss. His hud activated and his five squad mates were all surrounded by a green outline signifying they were part of his squad while everyone else in the shuttle bay had a blue outline signifying friendlies.

Anderson finally made an appearance with Nihlus in tow, EDI's avatar made an materialized next to Shepard and said "Captain it appears the main enemy ground force has landed near the capital city it appears they are trying to distract from their real intention of seizing the beacon". Anderson seemed to ponder on this information for a second "how many enemy forces are in the vicinity of the dig site?"

"From my initial scans I estimate about a number of enemy troops roughly equal to a platoon, Captain we are approaching the landing zone do you wish me to open the shuttle bay doors?" Anderson nodded and the large shuttle bay ramp opened. Nihlus suddenly flared with a purple aura "I move faster on my own" He then promptly ran and leapt out the still moving ship one of the marines Lance Corporal Smith (Shepard thought it sounded like although it was hard to tell through the speakers of his helmet) said "Is he off his bloody rocker?"

"He's a biotic so that means he can manipulate gravity he'll be fine" Kaiden said to the marine who asked the question "still bloody crazy" said Corporal Thomas. "Captain we have arrived at the landing point" EDI announced. The Anderson gave her avatar a nod then said to Shepard "the mission's yours now Shepard, your orders are to retrieve the beacon and crush all enemy opposition in your path" to emphasise this point he slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "What about survivors sir?" Alenko asked, Anderson sighed then replied "the survival of the colonists is not your concern what you have to focus on is finding that beacon, if this enemy is willing to commit an act of war against us for this beacon it hold valuable information, good luck Shepard". Anderson saluted Shepard shouted "Alright lads let's get a move on go, go, go". The Hastings was hovering in place about ten meters above the floor Shepard activated his biotics and leaped out he floated down quite quickly. Kaiden did the same while the other marines rappelled down once all the marines were ashore as it were, the Hastings shot off heading back up into the atmosphere to assist in the space battle currently raging in orbit.

The first thing Shepard noticed about Eden prime was the sky it seemed to be blood red in the distance he could see what looked like a crashed Imperial cruiser it seemed to have noise dived into a hillside. The sound of distant battle could be heard all around the prattle of machine guns and mass effect weapons as well as the deep thumps of artillery. "Alright lads let's get into a wedge formation I'll take point" so with weapons raised they advanced.

As they walked down the small rise they were currently on they saw what appeared to be some kind of floating airbag over a small body of water. "What are those?" Kaiden asked Shepard replied "some kind of animal, I think" the youngest in the group Corporal Thomas asked "can I shoot one sir?"

"No you cannot Corporal" Thomas seemed disappointed at Shepard's denial of his request. Shepard felt a small amount of bile rise up in his throat at what he saw next two bodies which appeared to have been burnt to a crisp were laying on a flat rock and the worst thing was he could smell the burning meat. One of the marines behind him gagged it was enhanced in its effect by the speakers of his suit. Kaiden walked up next to him "what…what happened to them".

"An energy weapon did this, peeled the flesh right off their bones, might have been a heat ray" Shepard guessed but it didn't matter what killed these two people, sitting around gawping wasn't helping anyone. "Move out, Corporal Thomas you take point" Thomas nodded Shepard couldn't see his expression behind his helmet but from the way he moved his guessed he was feeling eager. After a short walk they came to what like the edge of the plateau they were on in the distance they could see a city burning they could also see AA fire streaking up into the sky. Shepard could also just make out what seemed to be a dogfight in the skies over the city. Without Shepard giving the order, Corporal Thomas moved up the path, suddenly out of a small bunch of tress ahead two black covered drones shot out their red outline on Shepards hud told him they were hostile, the one firing it's gun while the other fired what seemed to be a heat Ray both of the drones weapons hit Thomas right in the head his shields provided some resistance to the machine gun but the beam weapon went straight through his helmet he fell without a scream and his vitals flat lined on Shepards hud this all happened within a instant. His remaining squad opened fire, one of the drones was destroyed by a shockwave from Shepard's biotics while the other was destroyed by a single bolt from Sergeant March's laser sniper rifle.

"Daveth, Alf, Fergus cover us Kaiden come with me" While Daveth,Alf and Fergus kept their guns trained on the direction the enemy drones came from while Shepard and Alenko ran down to Thomas's body. Alenko who had some medical training examined the marine's body "it looks like the machine gun damaged his shields while the beam struck the killing blow through his head he never had a chance". Kaiden was right there was a small circular hole right through his helmet where his forehead would be it was still smoking slightly "This is top of the range armour how strong was that bloody beam?" Shepard asked, Kaiden shrugged at this, great this mission was already off to a fantastic start. The other three marines came over to pay their respects; Fergus started singing softly "If I should fall to rise no more, as many comrades did before, then ask the fifes and drums to play. Over the hills and far away" Shepard looked at Fergus the song was strangely fitting "What's that song from Fergus?"

In a soft voice Fergus replied "it's an old Napoleonic wars battle song sir". Shepard needed to get these guys moving again they had a mission to complete after all "We must move on, after the mission is over we'll see he has a proper burial". The men all nodded and started to walk Fergus still stood there looking down at his body "I want to make these bastards pay" he then ran to catch up to the rest of the squad.

Shepard and his now four man squad had entered a small clump of trees. Shepard was about to say this would be a good place for an ambush when three of those drones which had killed Thomas appeared two were black but one was a bright red, Shepard didn't have time to react as the red drone fired a rocket that hit him dead in the chest he went flying back about three feet and landed on his back but the shields held. The other members of his squad got into cover behind the trees and opened fire on the enemy. The squad dispatched the drones quite quickly. Shepard through all of this was still lying on his back his chest plate was smoking from the rocket impact. Kaiden came running up once the coast was clear "you alright sir?" Shepard nodded, Kaiden offered his hand Shepard took it and got pulled up.

The rest of the five minute walk through the clump of trees was uneventful. Once the squad got to the edge of the trees however is when things heated up. A synthetic creature was standing over a woman in the uniform of the army with its gun pointed at her head, Shepard decided to try something he had been practising in his two months of leave. He focused his biotic energy and charged he closed the eight meters between his squad and the synthetic in an instant he went right through the hostile obliterating it. The rest of his squad opened fire on the other two synthetic hostiles that were standing nearby and quickly dispatched them and Shepard was left staring down at the woman lying on her back and she stared straight back up at him.

The woman was breathing heavily and was looking straight up wide eyed at Shepard. He cracked his best charming smile and offered his hand she took his offered hand and he helped her up. The rest of his squad had now made it down to his position "Daveth, Alf , Fergus take up positions over there" he pointed to the direction that the hostiles had come from. "God, am I glad to see you I thought I was done for I'm Second Lieutenant Ashley Williams of the Frontier regiment are you the one in charge here sir?" Williams sounded like an American and was wearing the uniform of the Army although it seemed like she had customised it with a pink strip going down her right paludron and right arm this really stood out against the khaki of the rest of her uniform her open was open so you could see her face unlike Shepards squads helmets. Shepard nodded "Leftenant Commander Shepard, Royal Marines give me a status report Williams". She nodded "It was bad we were brought in to guard the Beacon (which is what I assume you are here for).One minute we were patrolling around the dig site and the next we were fighting these things" she gestured to the remains of the creature Shepard had destroyed "were everywhere they had total air superiority, the Major, the Lieutenant and half the platoon were killed in the first couple of minutes they also got the Beowulf so we were left without fire support, I ordered a fighting retreat back to the dig sight but I lead them straight into an ambush". She looked at the floor and clenched her fists as she said that part Shepard knowing how it felt to lose men he thought of Liz and the rest of his squad on Elysium. "It wasn't your fault Williams, hell we just lost a man to these God damn things ourselves and the fact you fought on and are still alive is a victory in and of itself so why don't you pick up your gun join our squad and go and show these alien bastards what it means to fuck with the British empire".

Williams smiled at this "Yes sir" she saluted and picked up her rifle which was lying a few feet away. "Shepard?" EDI's voice came over Shepards radio he wondered why he was contacting him "Yes EDI what is it?"

"It appears the hostiles we are facing are Geth, the Geth are an AI machine race created by the Quarian people, but they have not been seen beyond the Persus veil since they drove the Quarians into exile just letting you know what you are up against EDI out". The Geth, Shepard remembered reading about it a while ago in a book on AI. He used his radio to send a squad wide radio message "it appears we are facing Geth lads, they are an A.I machine race so be on your guard. He looked to Ashley "let's move out, Williams do you know where the beacon is?" She nodded and pointed the direction that the Geth had come from so the squad continued on their way to the dig site.

After a brief fight with four Geth platforms they arrived at where the Beacon was meant to be located. "What it was here this morning someone must have moved it". Shepard saw the foot prints of a loader mech in the ground around the dig site "yeah it seems it has been moved by our side, look there mech footprints they lead up that hill".

"Up that hill is where the Scientists were camped as well as a company of Marines maybe some of them are still alive they probably moved the Beacon to the spaceport nearby" so it appeared their path was clear up the hill it was. "I doubt it, we would have heard gunfire nearby if they were" Alf said in his distinctive cockney accent. Ashley flashed Alf a look of anger "come on lads and umm lass let's move out and Alf for that remark you can take point" although Shepard couldn't see it behind his helmet Alf rolled his eyes and took point his Laser powered sniper rifle raised.

A short walk up the hill later Shepard saw one of the most horrific sights of his career so far. There were three spikes with what appeared to be humans that had been almost entirely replaced by cybernetics impaled on them, one of the things seemed to move slightly on the spike "Oh god their still alive" the things started moaning and writing while still impaled. Fergus said "I wouldn't call those alive lass" the spike retracted and the things stood up one moaned they resembled zombies that had been implanted with cybernetics. Shepards hud was struggling to make sense of them it was flashing from blue to red it finally settled on red when one of the things shot a bolt of electricity at Alf his shields resisted the attack and the squad opened fire. Alf blew one's head off with his rifle but Shepard had more trouble he fired at least five rounds into the chest of one and it still didn't die "Oh screw it" he biotic charged one of the things Alenko lifted one in the air with his biotics while the other marines shot it to bits. "What in the bleeding hell were those things?" Kaiden leaned down to examine the bodies of one of the things "it looks like the majority of the thing has been replaced with cybernetics but I have no idea how those spike did this".

Looking around the camp yielded the bodies of several scientists and a dozen or so dead soldiers Alf appeared to be opening his mouth to say I told you so but Shepard's stern look dissuaded him from that course of action. It was then what sounded like a large calibre pistol shot rang out close by "You guys hear that? Sounded nearby, the path up that hill leads to the spaceport" Ashley said "Well up the hill it is, move out Alf your still on point".

After a short walk down the path to the space port they rounded the bend and saw behind the tram station the Onyx ship that Shepard had seen in the video it was about four miles long. "Oh my god that ship…it's huge" Ashley said. The red tendrils of electricity were swarming around it like it had been in the video "It looks like a giant cuttlefish" well at least Daveth could see the funny side of the giant gravity defying ship. Suddenly Shepard couldn't think as an ear splitting sound emitted from the Alien dreadnaught and it started to lift off Shepard couldn't see any obvious propulsion method and the thing was gaining attitude very fast it finally went out of Shepards sight range well it was the fleets problem now Shepard thought. The tram station at the bottom of the hill was crawling with Geth and a few husks "Alf take those things out" Alf looked at Shepard.

"With pleasure sir" he fired eight shots with his rifle the red beams lanced out and struck each of his targets dead in the head the enemy didn't even get a shot off. "Hey commander more of those spikes" Kaiden said while pointing at them "I wonder how many of the people around here have been turned into those things" said Fergus while examining one.

As Shepard got to the top of the short set of stairs he was greeted with the sight of Nihlus face down in a pool of his own blood with the majority of his head missing "Is that a Turian?" Ashley said while looking slightly disgusted at the grizzly sight of Nihlus "Yeah it is a Spectre as well it's a long story so don't ask" replied Shepard Ashley just shrugged .

Daveth, Furgus and Alf go secure the tram while we take a look around here "Yes sir, come on lads for king and country" Daveth said as they headed to the tram. Kaiden was examining Nihlus body while Shepard and Ashley stood watch. "who's there show yourself" Ashley raised her rifle and pointed it at a set of crates a couple of feet away "wait, wait don't shoot I'm one of you I'm human" a man came out from behind the crates with his hands up he flinched when he heard the gun fire of Shepards marines from the tram. Shepards radio flared to life "this is Corporal Daveth we have secured the tram sir and the Geth have been eliminated over".

"Good job marines keep sharp we'll be along in a minute, we have located a survivor and are questioning him now over" the man kept fidgeting and wringing his hands he supposed he had just been through an alien attack and so a little odd behaviour was excusable. "Do you know where they took the beacon?" he asked the man he seemed to think for a moment then said "Beacon? You mean the alien relic they found not far from here they took that to the spaceport this morning, that's the way the other Turian went as well". "Other Turian what are you on about?"

The other Turian spoke to the dead one I think they knew each other the dead one called him Saren he turned his back to him then Saren shot him, right in the back of the head, he then left on the tram with those robots". This is not what Shepard had expected another Turian "Commander we better get to that Beacon" Kaiden suggested.

"Agreed move out, you behind the crates just hide until help arrives" the man nodded then walked back behind the crates. Once Shepard had met up with the rest of his squad at the front of the tram they continued on their journey. The tram ride took about six minutes but once they get to the space port near where the huge alien ship had landed they came under immediate fire from Geth troops. Shepard and Kaiden both used their biotics to full effect by throwing shockwaves and warps at Geth positions with the marines providing fire support once the immediate Geth threat was dealt with Shepard noticed his hud was registering gamma radiation spikes he saw what looked like a demolition charge Kaiden must have noticed as well "sir I think those are Nuclear charges I'm going to disarm it" a couple of minutes later and all the charges were disarmed. They found the Beacon a few minutes later it was guarded by a couple of Geth and more of those husk things.

"Alf, Daveth, Fergus go scout the surrounding area for any more Geth" as the three marines started to walk off Shepard contacted the Hastings. "This is Commander Shepard to the H.M.S Hastings the Beacon is secure I repeat the beacon is secure" Kaiden walked up to Shepard and looked like he was about to open his mouth to speak when a strange sound suddenly emitted from the Beacon and Ashley started getting drawn in. Shepard brushed past Kaiden and grabbed Ashley he threw her out of the way then somehow was lifted into the air. Intense pain shot through his head as images of Alien cities burning and synthetics cutting down fleeing organics, unclear images of planets and stars flashed through his head then feeling the most intense pain he had ever felt then Shepard felt nothing as he slowly lost consciousness.

Next Chapter: The Citadel

Codex entry: Beowulf fire support mechanized walker.

The Beowulf designed in 2163 was designed in direct response to the need for a light support mech that could provide infantry squads support in urban combat. Being armed with dual laser cannons and missile pods as well as a heat ray the Beowulf can decimate platoons in seconds. Although having a strong shield generator because of the Beowulf small size it is under armoured compared to its larger cousins so once it's shields are down the Beowulf is very venerable to enemy fire.

Codex entry: H.M.S Aeron

The H.M.S Aeron is a five mile long dreadnaught it is the largest dreadnaught currently in existence and is also the flagship of the Royal navy. Laid down in 2170 in direct response to the Citadel commissioning two more destiny ascension class vessels, the Aeron so named after a Celtic god of war was to be twice as large as the ascension class and be twice as heavily armoured the cost of the project was immense it was built over a period of ten years it narrowly missed the war with the Batarians by a couple of months. Armed with dual spinally mounted Magnetic accelerator cannons that run the length of the ship numerous point defence weapons and broadside weapons capable of obliterating ships in one salvo the Aeron is a match for any ship in known space. It currently has the strongest shielding and amour of any ship in the Royal Navy.

Please review if there are any glaring errors I humbly apologise as my beta is unfortunately still not available.

Next chapter coming soon.


	5. Codex entry: War for Shanxi

Codex entry: War for Shanxi.

On June 6th 2157 a collection of Chinese vessels comprised of four scientific ships a cruiser and four frigates had activated the relay know as 314 they passed through the relay. And encountered a Turian military patrol comprised of two cruisers and six frigates initially nothing happened with both sides contemplating their next move. Unfortunately one of the Chinese ships started to power up its shields, as human shields are not powered by Eezo. The Turians mistook this for weapons being charged and opened fire. The first Turian salvo depleted the Chinese shields. The Chinese however used their energy weapons while the Turians had invested in energy resistance shielding, their shields were still almost depleted by the Chinese weapons, the second Chinese salvo was comprised of their magnetic accelerator weapons which ripped through the unshielded Turian ships it was at this point that the scientific vessels fled back through the relay. The Turians lost three frigates. The Turians fired again this time the Chinese lost the Cruiser Shanghai. The frigates of the Chinese fleet knowing that they were outmatched retreated back through the relay as well.

The Turians sent scouting forces through the relay the majority of probes that went through were destroyed but the Turians upon seeing the large Chinese fleet massed in orbit around Shanxi which included the dreadnaught Peking commenced full scale mobilization. They gathered up a large task force comprised of four dreadnaughts a half dozen heavy cruisers dozens of cruisers and two carriers this fleet also included a multitude of frigates as well as enough transport vessels to take and hold Shanxi. On June 8th 2157 the Turian task force passed through relay 314. The orbital battle was short but intense at the end of it the Turians had taken large casualties including a single dreadnaught, but had completely annihilated the Chinese forces in orbit apart from a pair of frigates which jumped to FTL before the Turians could destroy them.

The Turian ground forces deployed in mass to the planet at least two million troops arrayed against the Chinese forces on the planet numbering three hundred thousand the Turians used Blitzkrieg tactics against the Chinese forces. The Chinese lacked armour and air support and the Turians exploited the advantage they had. The open land battles lasted for about a month before the last Chinese army fell in the defence of the capital of the planet. The Turians now having complete control of Shanxi sent scouting forces to the surrounding star systems they encountered two inhabited systems controlled by the British and French Empires although both of these nations had been given prior warning by the fleeing Chinese frigates the initial Turian advances into these systems were met with overwhelming force by the Royal Navy and _Marine nationale _who worked in cohesion to destroy the Turian advances into their space.

The Turians now knowing this was no minor species but a major galactic power started reinforcing Shanxi and the fleet in orbit over the planet. Because of the attacks on the British and French colonies, these two empires vowed to support the Chinese Empire in their effort to regain Shanxi. The French and British alliance asked for the assistance of the other Empires. The only one to agree to aid them would be the United States of America, the Americans agreed to this as they had several colonies in nearby systems and if the British, French and Chinese forces were defeated, the Americans would be alone to face the alien threat. The other Empires however refused to aid the Alliance (as the British, American, French and Chinese Alliance became known as) this would cause friction between the nations of Earth for decades to come.

On July 18th 2157 the Alliance fleet appeared in the Shanxi system, the fleet comprised of thirty dreadnaughts and dozens upon dozens of heavy cruisers and hundreds of other ships. The battle in the orbit of Shanxi was devastating. The Alliance fleet engaged the Turians at 2:30 pm galactic standard time. The initial salvos destroyed dozens of ships on either side but otherwise was indecisive the Alliance did manage to land about a million troops on the planet although officially a Chinese lead effort the majority of the troops on the planet were British, French or American. One of the more famous battles of the initial landings was the victory of a US marine division against a much larger Turian army just outside the capital city of Shanxi. After the initial landings the Alliance managed to secure half a dozen landings sites around the planet but could not advance as the Turians had dug in and with no side achieving clear orbital dominance the ground battle for Shanxi got bogged down into a stalemate.

The situation in space was not much different while the Alliance vessels magnetic accelerator weapons packed more punch and could fire further they took much longer to reload then the Turian weapons which could fire more rounds per minute. The Turians quickly learned however that closing in to 'knife fight ranges' led to heavy casualties as the majority of human vessels were bristling with broadside weaponry, Turian ships were also more manoeuvrable than their human analogues. The dead lock in space continued for six months with neither side gaining a clear advantage with the bulk of the two fleets never meeting in actual battle but rather skirmishes, the Turians were losing more ships however and had to bring in reinforcements from all over the Hierarchy at the end of January 22nd 2158 over 50% of the Turian fleet had been thrown into the battle for Shanxi.

The joint allied command came up with a plan to break the deadlock on the surface; February was the start of winter for the Northern hemisphere of the planet and this was marked by heavy snow storms. The allied forces on the ground observed that the Turians didn't seem to fight well in the cold so a large scale ground and space offensive was planned for the 6th of February. To ensure the offensive succeeded two Royal navy dreadnaughts were brought into the system the H.M.S Thunder child and H.M.S Woking as well as additional American and French ships.

On the 6th of February at 6:00 am galactic standard time, the Human fleet in orbit committed a short range FTL jump into the middle of the Turian fleet. This caused mass confusion in the Turians lost several ships before they even knew what was going on, before they could respond however the Human fleet jumped to FTL again. As the battle raged in space the troops on the ground also went on the attack, throughout the entire Northern hemisphere the human forces went on the offensive.

The first major victory for the humans was in the coastal city of New Canton when forces from the combined Anglo-American 2nd army group engaged the Turian 7th Army a.k.a Krogan crushers. The attack on the city started with a huge artillery bombardment the Turians responded to the bombardment by digging in, the bombardment kept up until the lead elements of the 2nd army group made it to the city limits. Neither side had air support as a major blizzard had hit the area; the Turian commanders assumed that the human forces would not continue the attack on the city with the snow storm still raging they were solely mistaken. The Anglo-American forces continued the advance supported by heavy mechs and armour; The Turians however were experiencing problems with their vehicles due to the cold. The Turians had not been able to ship in winter equipment, for their troops so they weren't prepared for the sup zero temperatures of the Shanxi winter.

The city of New Canton was taken after two weeks of urban warfare in freezing conditions. The mechs of the Anglo-American forces really came into their prime here; while the Turian heavy armour was unable to manoeuvre effectively the mechs could navigate tight city streets providing fire support.

The offensive in the rest of the Northern hemisphere went spectacularly well, the only set back being Turian forces dug into the Tau mountain range. Where ever human forces advanced they were met by a grateful populace, the offensive while not succeeding in all of it goals had almost entirely evicted the Turians from the Northern continent. The Wells offensive was the largest gathering of human military force up to that point in history over three million men arrayed against four million Turians. The offensive had lasted almost a year, with the only Turian forces remaining on the Northern continent being hold up along the southern coastal cities and in the Tau mountain range. The battle in space had gone well with over 20% of the Turian fleet being knocked out of action; a famous event of the battle was H.M.S Thunder child with full shields rammed straight through a Turian heavy cruiser to save a fleeing hospital ships the captian of the Turian ship was a Turian by the name of Desolas Arterius KIA. The success of the Wells offensive was not without sacrifice however over eight hundred thousand dead men and women, with the single greatest loss of life being in the Tau mountain range when American forces at the battle of mount Xhou were ordered by General Williams to try and flank around the Turian positions, the American troops under Williams were slaughter nearly to the last man by a large Turian ambush.

With the war now having entered its second year, the other two citadel council members started putting pressure on the Hierarchy to come to terms with the human forces, while the Turians demanded aid from the other two civilizations they both refused. The Turian leadership was furious with the refusal of the Asari and Salarians to aid them; this caused the Turian leadership to issue an ultimatum either the Asari Republics or Salarian Union aid them in the conflict with the Humans or the Turians withdraw from the council. This caused severe resentment from the other to council members populations as they viewed they were being blackmailed into war. So it was that on 5th of July 2159 the two other council members began mobilizing their armed forces.

The Turians planned an offensive for the 19th of July, with the extra support from the Salarian and Asari navies they planned to decisively beat the human fleet in a pitched battle. At this point in the war the orbit of Shanxi was now littered with debris from space battles (to this day the Shanxi debris field is a popular tourist destination).

The turning point of the war came on the 10rd of July when a Turian raid on a human colony in preparation for the offensive (in the hope to draw away ships from the front lines) went badly wrong. The Turians instead of hitting a British colony mistakenly attacked a Russian one, what made this attack more significant was that in the attack the Russian Tsars son (who had been on a visit to the Russian outer colonies) was killed. The Tsar was enraged and immediately mobilized. The images of the bombarded Russian colony inspired massive hatred in the Russian populace. On the 15th of July 2159 an entire Russian Fleet appeared in the Shanxi system, the Turian high command reacted by moving up the planned 19th of July offensive. This went badly for the Turian fleet as the other council members had not yet fully mobilized and so could only send a few ships to assist.

The battle between the allied fleet and the Turian fleet began at 8:00 pm galactic standard time on the 16th of July. The Turians which now had over 70% of their total fleet strength in the battle for Shanxi, gave their commanders the order that there was to be no retreat and no surrender. The battle that then occurred was the largest space battle in recorded history so far, thousands of ships fought in the skies above Shanxi. The battle lasted for two weeks with both sides having taken tremendous losses, once it became clear how ever that the human fleet was prevailing, the commodore of the Turian fleet even knowing it would most likely result in his execution ordered the fleet to retreat through the relay. With now total orbital superiority and the addition of fresh Russian troops, the human forces went on the offensive. After the first few pitched battles the Turians attempted to wage, were crushed by orbital firepower the Turian troops adopted hit and run style tactics hoping the fleet would come back, it never did.

Eight months later the majority of Turian forces had surrendered after having run out of dextro food supplies, thousands starved as the human forces did not have the ability to make Turian friendly food. By March 2160 the human forces were preparing to advance through the relay, fresh troops and ships were brought in with the intention to invade through the relay. A day before this was to take place however a single ship passed through the relay; it was unarmed and did not look of Turian design. The ship was broadcasting on all frequencies; the message was in clear English and was simply 'we come in peace'. The ship was an Asari diplomatic vessel, It asked to open negotiations on behalf of the council.

Three months later on June 6th 2160 the treaty of Shanxi was signed it stated, that humanity did not recognize the authority of the council and was the own law within its own borders. The Turian hierarchy were to pay reparations in materials and coin to the Chinese Empire, United States, French Republic, British Empire and the Russian Empire, in addition the Captain of the ship that attacked the Russian colony was to be handed over to the Russians. The treaty also stated that the human empires are not part of the council but may establish and embassy on the citadel and integrate into the galactic economy, colonization rights were also to be given to the British Empire, French Empire ,U.S and the Russian Empire in the Skyillian verge and Attican Traverse.

As it stands the total death count on June 7th 2160 was fifteen million humans and Turian dead. In terms of scale the War for Shanxi was one of the largest in history with mulit million men battles being the norm throughout the three year long war. Even though the Empires of Earth were significantly weakened by the end of the war, they were already rebuilding their fleets and armies as well as the Turians who initiated a massive dreadnaught building program, some people say the war for Shanxi was just round one of a much larger conflict that is currently brewing, and few can deny the ever escalating arms race between the Turians and Humanity.

Please let me know what you think of this cheers.

Chapter four should be up if all goes well be out some time tomorrow.


	6. Chapter four: Citadel

Chapter four: Citadel.

He appeared to be back in London and was stood in a deserted Trafalgar square at the base of Nelsons column; there wasn't a soul in sight. Looking to the sky it appeared to be dusk as he could see the setting sun peeking out from behind a skyscraper, casting orange lances of light upon the square. He looked around confused; how the hell had he got here? The last thing he remembered was throwing Ashley out of the Beacons grasp then nothing, had he died was this some kind of purgatory?

He heard what appeared to be the sound of metal scraping upon stone he turned around to face Nelsons column standing atop it ever vigilant was Nelson a slight gust of wind seemed to blow from behind him. "Hello John" he froze that was…her voice, he turned around slowly and sure enough standing there was Liz, she was wearing a pair of jeans and a blue tank top her long blonde hair was draped over her shoulders exactly what she looked like when he had taken her to this very square a year before Elysium.

He looked down at himself not wanting to look her in the eye, "What's wrong John?" She said softly, he couldn't say it, couldn't say that it was because he had let her die that it was his fault she was dead. He hadn't been fast enough, he couldn't save her and she had died at the hands of some Batarian bastards. And now his own dreams were torturing him, he felt a slight pressure on his left gauntlet Liz had slipped her hand into his.

He looked up and stared straight into her blue eyes "I…I tried but those Batarian scum got there before me, I wasn't fast enough", he clenched his right fist.

"Oh John it wasn't your fault you tried your very hardest to save me", well obviously his hardest hadn't been enough.

"But I need you to focus now, Saren is a threat to all of humanity, close your eyes John". He did so, he felt the ground rumble slightly, "now open them" as he opened his eyes he was greeted by a terrible sight. London was burning, the sky was a terrible orange from the fires he could see raging. There were bodies lying all around, Nelsons column had fallen over, Nelsons face having been deformed by three large scratches down it. Shepard then felt an ear splitting screeching noise and while he fell to the floor in pain, Liz just stood there looking at him.

He looked up he could see striding around the city were dozens of that ship he had seen at Eden prime. "If you do not stop Saren, this is what shall come to pass", he was about to respond until he heard what sounded like a cargo horn. He looked straight up, right above him was one of those ships it looked like he was about to be crushed.

He woke up, instantly sitting up almost head-butting a white haired doctor as he did so, he appeared to be in the Hastings medical bay. He realized his biotics were flared; he calmed down and deactivated them. "Well I think it's safe to say he's awake doctor" Ashley said, Daveth was standing there as well both were out of amour in blue off duty uniforms.

"You gave us a bloody good scare sir, also just to let you know I think I deserve a promotion for carrying you back to the ship sir".

He smiled at that then the white haired doctor said "how do you feel commander?"

How did he feel apart from a slight head ache and being a bit shaken up from those visions, and that dream with Liz he felt fine. "I feel fine really, apart from some…strange nightmares" Shepard wasn't going to mention the last one with Liz.

The doctor nodded "yes I thought as much, my brain scans revealed abnormal beta waves and rapid eye movement which normally mean intense dreaming".

Daveth said "wait the commander had a bad dream that was all?" Ashley elbowed him in the ribs, "ow what was that for?" Ashley just gave him an angry glare.

"It was less like a bad dream and more like a vision; I saw more of that ship from Eden prime attacking cities although it was all rather unclear", he decided not to mention the dream with Liz.

"So what happened exactly? The last thing I remember was throwing you out of the way", Ashley seemed to have an embarrassed look on her face at the mention of that.

"Well basically sir, after you threw miss Williams here out of the way, and finished your gravity defying act the Beacon blew up". Well that was just bloody great not only had the Turian and one of his squad died, but the damn Beacon had been rendered useless when he got his hands on this Saren bastard.

"It was my fault, I must have activated some kind of security field when I approached it sorry sir".

"You had no way of knowing, and if you hadn't triggered it the boffins who came to collect the thing would have so don't beat yourself up over it". Ashley flashed him a brief smile, he returned it in kind.

He got off the cot he had been sitting on up to this point, "how long was I out?"

The doctor (Charkwas was her name if he remembered correctly) replied to his question, "about twenty eight hours, and since you are physically fine I can probr…oh Captain Anderson".

Anderson walked into the med bay, he looked tired having two large bags under his eyes. Anderson said, "how's the Commander holding up Doctor?"

"All the readings look stable; I'd say the Commanders going to be fine".

"Glad to hear it Doctor, now Shepard I need to have a word with you…in private".

Chakwas walked into the office at the back of the med bay, "I'll be in the mess if you need me" and with that Ashley left, Daveth gave Shepard a half salute and left as well.

"You were out cold for more than a day, you sure you're okay?" Shepard nodded "I'm fine just pissed off at the fact one of my men was killed and that I failed in my primary objective".

Anderson sighed "Shepard you did damn well and you know it, if you hadn't disarmed those bombs the whole colony would have been destroyed".

Shepard supposed he had a point but then he thought of something, "why is Second Leftenant Williams here sir?"

"Because we had a place in our ground team having lost Thomas and her whole unit had been wiped out so it was a good fit".

Anderson wrung his hands "I won't lie to you John things look bad, Nihlus is dead we have a synthetic army under the command of a Turian attacking, this could escalate very quickly". Shepard agreed with the last part of Andersons statement if the general public learned that the attack had been under the command of a Turian well, it could lead to the public clamouring for revenge.

"I contacted the Secret Service Bureau, and asked for their files on Turians named Saren. According to this" Anderson handed Shepard a scroll device at the top of the document was the symbol of MI6. "Saren is a Spectre one of the best; he was also responsible for the Torfan incident* a few years".

"Sir was…was this attack Council backed?"

"No we may not be best friends with the council, but they wouldn't be insane enough to go to war with us over a Beacon that they were going to get access to anyway. But regardless we've contacted the Council and they are currently investigating Saren, but Shepard you need to prepare yourself you can most likely kiss your candidacy for the Spectres good bye".

Shepard had guessed that as soon as he saw Nihlus lying in a pool of his own blood, that he could kiss being a Spectre goodbye. Anderson spoke up again "before I dismiss you Shepard did you see anything that could let us know what this Saren was after?"

Shepard thought about whether or not to tell Anderson about the vision before he lost consciousness, he decided it was for the best although he was going to omit the Liz dream. "I had a vision of Synthetics including that huge ship killing organics, although it was unclear although I doubt the council will heed this".

"John we don't even know what that Beacon contained maybe it was some ancient blueprint for a weapon of mass destruction, but whatever it was Saren was willing to declare war on us to get it. Anyway we'll be at the Citadel in about half an hour, you're off duty until then dismissed John" and with that the Captain left.

After grabbing some extra medi-gel for his head ache, he left the medbay. He immediately saw Ashley; she was leaning against the mess's wall and appeared to be drinking a bottle of water, also she had let her hair out of the bun she had it in previously. She saw him staring at her at gave him a smile, he walked over to go talk to her, seeing as she was to be under his command it was only fitting he get to know her better. "I'm glad you're okay sir, the crew good use some good news after what happened to Thomas".

Shepard hated to lose men under his command; it was too bad really Thomas seemed like a decent lad "I hate losing men under my command especially promising marines like Thomas".

Ashley nodded "I know what you mean losing men isn't easy, although part of me still feels guilty if Thomas were here I might not have been assigned to the Hastings" she said.

"Don't be a muppet I was the one who screwed up not you, you have nothing to be guilty for" she smiled at this.

"There is one thing sir, I haven't been shown around the ship yet and umm don't know where the living quarters are I don't suppose you could show me?"

He nodded "sure I'm heading to that level as well, apart from Daveth have you been introduced to the other marines yet?"

She shook her head "well then Miss Williams it will be my pleasure to" what the hell was wrong with him he'd known her for what an hour in total and he was already flirting with her?

As they started walking towards stairs which led to the CIC he decided to ask about something that was bothering him. "Williams if you don't mind me asking, why do you sound like an American?"

"Well both my parents are originally from the American colony of New Boston and we lived there until I was seven, we then moved to the British colony of Alba and I just never lost my accent I guess. What about you Commander what planet are you from?"

"Earth" he replied as they reached the top of the stairs and into the busy CIC, they then got into the lift and Shepard prepared himself for the painfully slow ride, but at least he had company he thought.

Williams looked a bit upset 'of course she is she lost her entire unit idiot', "look Williams I know what you must be going through on Elysium losing over half my unit it…wasn't easy. So if you ever need to talk about it just let me know".

"Thank you sir", she said softly. The lift opened with a ping and they steeped out onto the living quarter's deck, there were a couple of crew members walking around but otherwise it was quite deserted. He led Ashley to the Armoury when the door to it slid open he saw all of his marines minus Kaiden, "speak of the devil" Daveth said.

He crossed his arms, and said "what were you saying about me?"

"Oh nothing important sir" Alf replied.

"We're just glad to see that you're alright Commander, losing two men on the first mission of a tour is never a good sign" Fergus said while cleaning his assault rifle.

"Anyway lads this is Second Leftenant Ashley Williams, in case you didn't get introduced while fighting torch headed robots. As she is a second Leftenant she outranks all of you except Kaiden so no funny business" he said.

Ashley gave Shepard a look he couldn't quite place then said, "I can take care of myself commander, I know how to keep grunts in line".

"Anyway Williams here needs some new armour, something better than the army stuff she was wearing before she needs some good Royal marine armour" he said.

"I think there's a set of female Nightingale armour over there somewhere" Alf said while pointing towards the back of the armoury by the window.

Ashley walked over to where he had pointed and looked through all the armour lockers until she found what she was looking for, a set of heavy Nightingale armour, the armours main point of fame was that the servo joints in the legs allowed the wearer to run twice as fast, it also had a retractable helmet. "What do you think Williams?"

"This is just…wow is all I can say, I read about these only the best Special Forces get them".

"Well you did survive a battle that destroyed your entire unit so I think you qualify" Daveth said.

Ashley was looking at him then seemed to jump a mile, he was confused at that. "Hello Shepard", and now he knew why she done that,EDI's avatar had just materialised besides him.

"Captain Anderson wanted me to inform you that we are approaching the Citadel, and if you wish to see it from the cockpit now would be the best time to do so". As quickly as EDI had appeared she had disappeared, he wondered whether she knew she made people jump when she did that.

"Umm what the hell was that?" Ashley asked, he looked at her with a confused look, hadn't she served on a ship before even if she wasn't a marine she should have at least served on one.

"That was our AI, her full name is the enhanced defence intelligence but most of us just call her EDI" Alf said to her.

"Oh sorry I've never seen an AI just appear like that, the ones I've seen have to be projected".

"Don't worry about it Ashl…Williams, anyway who wants to come up to the cockpit with me to see the Citadel?" Only Daveth and Ashley agreed the others used the excuse that they had seen it before.

As they left the armoury, they saw Kaiden emerging from one of the living quarters, he looked quite ruff.

"You alright sir?" Daveth said, Kaiden just nodded and shuffled into one of the bathrooms on the deck.

"Wonder what was the matter with him" Daveth said, he just shrugged maybe Kaiden had come down with something. After the walk through the living quarter's deck and the painfully slow lift ride, the trio finally arrived at the cockpit. Joker was sin the pilot's chair with the avatar of EDI standing behind him.

"Good timing guys just about to hit the relay", he could see out the window of the Hastings the relay coming into view and then promptly disappear as the relay launched them through the cosmos. The space around the Hastings had changed they appeared to be in some kind of purple coloured nebula, and what he saw next took his breath away.

"That is…bloody impressive" he said, the others just nodded in amazement. They were approaching a huge space station, what the Council races called the Citadel.

Out of the window he could see that they were passing close by one of the four destiny ascension class dreadnaughts, Ashley exclaimed "Look at the size of that ship!"

"Ha you've never seen the H.M.S Aeron have you Williams, the Aeron is twice the size of that ship", Joker said.

"Citadel control this is H.M.S Hastings requesting permission to dock", after a brief pause what sounded like a Turian voice came over the radio.

"Standby Hastings checking for docking clearance…clearance granted you may begin your approach, transferring you to an Imperial operator".

"May I just reiterate what the Commander said a minute ago and say this is bloody impressive" Daveth said.

"Hastings this is Imperial operator Tanith, sending you coordinates for Royal navy docking please proceed there Tanith out". And with that Joker brought the Hastings into Citadel dock. He turned around to see Captain Anderson walking up flanked by Alf and Fergus, both Alf and Fergus were wearing civilian clothing.

"Shepard I just got word from the ambassador, after quite a bit of political lobbying our diplomats have got the Council to increase the period C-sec have to investigate Saren by a day, so I'm giving the entire crew shore leave until then, the hearing is at six pm tommrow, one last thing if you guys do decide to drink please for the love of God don't have a hangover at the hearing tomorrow". And with that the Captain left the ship via the nearby airlock.

With a grin plastered over his face, Shepard turned to the marines. "Well I'm going to go get changed into my civvies, and I advise you guys to do the same" and with that he run down the hall to get to the lift. "He's not the most conventional officer is he" Ashley said, the other Marines just nodded in agreement.

Ten minutes later he was standing on the docking bay in his favourite black hoodie with the Royal marine logo and a pair of dark blue jeans as well as trainers There were three other marines here as well Alf, Fergus and Daveth in in civvies as well. The four of them were planning to hit a club on the wards called Flux; they were now just waiting for Ashley "Can't we just leave and she can catch up?" Alf asked, Shepard's look however put him off from any further protest.

The airlock of the Hastings opened and a couple of crew members came walking out, but behind them (he had to do a double take to make sure it was her) was Ashley.

She was wearing a black hoodie under which lay a white top, and a short jean skirt with black leggings, and a pair of ankle hight high black high heeled boots, her hair had also been let down. "You guys ready to go?"

He could just mange a nod, whereas Daveth said "Hell yeah lets go". They walked to a lift which descended into the Royal Navy offices on the Citadel, after a brief walk they finally found a taxi terminal. The cab took them to the wards the journey in all took about seven minutes. Once they landed Alf and Fergus had to show them the way, having been the only ones who had been here before. The wards were crowed with dozens of species some that he hadn't even seen before, one looked like a cross between an elephant and a matinee. It seemed to be night time on the wards day night cycle, he checked his watch which was set to galactic standard and sure enough it was about ten pm. There were shops everywhere, and they were defiantly fond of using neon lights to advertise them.

They finally arrived at Flux after a half hour walk, "just to light you know guys it was Alf's fault for getting us lost ten minutes ago" Alfs response was to punch Fergus in the shoulder.

"Alright you four go grab a table by the window, I'll go grab the drinks what do you four want?"

Alf and Fergus opted for Whiskey while Daveth asked for a pint of larger, "what do you want Ashley?"

"I'll come up with you to the bar; after all you'll need someone to help you carry the drinks" she said. As he looked more closely he realized she had put a slight bit of make up on, nothing wrong with that they were in a club after all he thought to himself.

The club was packed; Ashley and Shepard had to push their way to the bar standing behind the bar was a Volus. "Hello bar keep over here" he had to almost shout to be heard over the music.

The short little alien waddled over to Shepard and Ashley, "Hello Brit-clan how may I be of assistance?"

Shepard said"you accept pound sterling correct?" The short little alien nodded. "Ok then can I have a bottle of any whiskey, a pint of larger and what about you Ashley what do you want?"

"I'll have a bottle of Imperial Vodka please", he was surprised that stuff was quite strong.

"You sure that you can handle it Williams?" She gave him a brief look of anger which was then replaced by one of bemusement.

"Probably better then you could…sir".

Oh so it was a challenge was it "can we have a pair of shot glasses as well please". The Volus nodded and waddled off to get their drinks; he came back carrying their orders on a metal tray. They found the rest of the guys by one of the large windows of the club at a circular table, it appeared they had taken chairs from other tables to make sure He and Ashley had seats.

When they saw he and Ashley approaching with the drinks they cheered, he set the tray down in the centre of their table and the three marines quickly started drinking.

Ashley took a seat next to him, "so Williams have you come to take back what you said?" She shook her head her long hair covering her face as she did, she then proceeded to grab the two shot glasses and poured each one full.

"Bottoms up Shepard", she then downed the shot.

Shepard then did the same for his, "You can't win Williams so you may as well give up now" the other men seemed too busy embroiled in their own conversation about some football team or another and weren't taking notice of him and Ash.

"Nope sorry Shepard, you're going to lose and you know it", She poured another shot and downed that one as well, Shepard responded in kind.

Ten minutes and ten more shots later, Shepard and Ashley were quite drunk and the others had gone on to the dance floor. "So…are you going to admit tha, that I won and you lost Ash" He slurred, In his Drunken haze he didn't realize that he had used a nickname for her.

She put her hand on his shoulder and said "Nope you…you are so much more drunk then I am". He laughed at this statement and proceeded to down another shot.

"No I am an English gentleman we do not get drunk, and I can prove I'm not". He said in his best posh accent, he wobbly stood up and offered Ashley his hand. She gave him a puzzled look but took his hand; he led her over to the dance floor.

"Oh hey commander" Daveth slurred while standing with his arms around a random women, Shepard just nodded.

Once him and Ashley were in the middle of the dance floor he said "This will prove who's more pissed we are going to dance", and Shepard started to although this just resulted in Ashley bursting into laughter.

"Oh my god, you are just terrible", this was accompanied by more laughter from her.

"Oh let's see you do…do better", 'oh god I really am pissed' he thought to himself. She gave him a determined look and started dancing, he had to admit the way she danced was…quite nice.

"I ok I admit it you're a better dancer Liz…", oh shit had he just called her Liz?

"Who's Liz?" She said while giving him a puzzled look, he thought about what he could say in response to that.

"Umm Liz is…Liz is" what he did next was maybe due to the fact he was drunk or the fact that she looked fit, or maybe a combination of both but to get her to drop the subject he leaned in and kissed her. Instead of the expected slap, he was pleasantly surprised when she reciprocated the kiss which turned into a snog. What was he doing she was a subordinate and he a commanding office, but damn was she a bloody good kisser. After about five minutes snogging on the dance floor with the pulsing music playing, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to be greeted by the sight of Daveth with his arm wrapped around a red headed woman's waist.

"I see you got lucky commander who's the lucky bird…oh you naughty boy doesn't that break regs or some shit? Anyway me and Larissa here are heading to a hotel, don't worry I'll be ready for the hearing tomorrow also I think Alf and Fergus left already; they said something about a Choras den. See you commander, and don't worry I won't tell".

He noticed that Ashley had put her arms around his waist and was leaning into him, oh if Anderson saw him he was so screwed. "Hey John, just to let you know you're a quite good and ummm can we leave now I think I'm going to fall asleep".

"Uhh sure lets go" and so he left the club, with his arm supporting Ashley. He could feel the alcohol taking full effect as he struggled to walk straight. They reached a cab terminal and after a five minute wait got in the cab.

During some point in the cab ride back to the Hastings docking bay, Ashley had put her head onto his chest and had fallen asleep. The cab finally reached the Royal navy docks he checked his watch it was about one am, he tried in vain to rouse Ashley. So he finally settled on carrying her back to the ship, he slipped his one arm under her legs and the other under her back. There were very few people in the docking area there appeared to be two of the Hastings crew members a man and a woman making out. He ignored them on continued onwards; being drunk and trying to carry a woman probably wasn't the best combination. He finally made it to the Hastings, the air lock opened and he walked into the ship. It was deserted, ok deserted is good he thought. After finally making it to the lift he discovered it was unavailable, as it was coming up from the living quarters. The lift door opened and out stepped Kaiden.

"Umm hello Commander what's…"

"Don't ask Leftenant" as he got into the lift and selected the living quarters, he wanted to bang his head against the wall. He had bloody biotics he could have used to carry her why hadn't he used them, and that's how he knew that he was seriously pissed. The lift opened up on the living quarter's deck and another snag appeared in his plan, he didn't know where her quarters were. So he walked to his room and put her down on his bed, he'd just sleep on the sofa. Collapsing onto the sofa he groaned, why had he got this drunk, and then snogged a subordinate and add to all that he had an important hearing later. Shepard still in his hoodie and jeans fell into a drunken sleep.

Please review and I promise there will be battles next chapter.

Codex entry: Attack on Eden prime.

On June 7th 2183 a Geth Fleet along with a Dreadnaught of unknown make appeared in the Prime system, along with the unknown dreadnaught the fleet was comprised of twenty Geth dreadnaughts and a multitude of cruisers as well as supporting ships. The Royal navy squadron in the system was comprised of four Dreadnaughts and a dozen cruisers as well as frigates. The battle went badly for the Royal Navy while the R.N had superior technology the Geth had the advantage in numbers surprisingly the unknown dreadnaught skipped the R.N fleet and went straight towards the surface of the planet along with Geth transports.

The majority of Geth forces landed near the capital city of Hope where the 123rd Dragoons held off the Geth attack until the Geth suddenly retreated. The unknown dreadnaught lifted off from the surface, on the way up the R.N cruiser Glasgow attempted to intercept it. A single blast of the dreadnaughts laser weapons destroyed it in one hit. After this the Geth fleet in orbit retreated to FTL.


	7. Chapter five: Mr Vakarian I presume?

Chapter five: Mr Vakarian I presume?

He slowly opened his right eye and saw his cabin but there was one question, why was he on the sofa? He saw a person lying on his bed, and suddenly the events of last night came rushing back to him. He sat up on the sofa and checked the time on his watch; it was one pm that was okay then still had hours to go until the hearing. He walked slowly over to the bed, and shook Ashley slightly.

"Umm Ash you have to get up now…wake up".

She slowly sat up in the bed "Err ten more minutes please sir", her eyes slowly focused and she asked "why am I in your room and in your bed Commander…wait did we".

"No…no we didn't, I just didn't know where your quarters were last night so I just dropped you down here". He knew what she had been going to say, not that he'd have minded of course but he didn't feel like being demoted at the current time for sleeping with a subordinate.

"Wait what do you mean dropped me?"

"Oh yeah well last night you sort of just fell asleep in the taxi, so I had to carry you back here". She gave him a brief smile then got up off the bed; they just stood there for a minute not knowing what to say.

He decided to break the awkward silence, "well I have to ask do you remember what happened last night at the club?" She nodded, ah well that was just great. There went his plans of just forgetting the incident, now things were going to get really awkward between them.

"I hate to ask you this but please don't tell anyone we snogged at the club, because I really don't fancy getting a court marital for breaking regs".

"Shepard honestly we were both drunk don't worry about it", she said quietly under her breath "not like I didn't enjoy it either".

He didn't quite catch what she said "what did you say?" She turned bright red and started slowly backing away to the door.

"Oh umm nothing just that I need to go and get out of my civvies, so yeah see you later John…I mean Commander". And with that she left, well that was odd he thought to himself. He went over to the small cupboard where he kept his clothes, and had just grabbed a green jumpsuit when there was a knock at the door.

He walked up to answer it and pressed the open button, as the door slid open he was greeted with Daveth grinning ear to ear.

"So Commander I just saw Ashley leaving your quarters, what did you two do last night?" Daveth said with a smug grin that made him want to use his biotics to splatter him over the walls.

"Nothing happened, but I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you" he said.

"Oh come on Commander she looked quite worn out,you two must hav-"

"Daveth if you do not drop this, I will personally see you transferred to the bloody Shetland islands to guard sheep". Daveth seemed to get the message at this, and did a brief salute then walked off leaving him in peace.

Twenty minutes later after having a quick shower and changing into his marine jumpsuit, he decided to pop to the mess to get something to eat as he was starving. When he got to the mess it was quite crowded, it was lunch time after all. Most of the crew were talking about what they had done last night; he was sure he saw the couple who had been making out in the R.N offices last night. After grabbing a meal from the chef which consisted of a plate of chicken curry and a bottle of water, he went to find a seat at one of the two large tables in the mess.

He sat down and started to enjoy his meal, "hey Commander we heard you had fun last night hahah" Alf said. Fergus was with Alf as well they both looked quite tried and their movements were sluggish, this made him think they might be suffering from a hangover; they were also wearing the green marine jumpsuits that he wore.

Alf and Fergus occupied the two seats across from him, Alf said "well we bumped into Daveth earlier, and he told us you and the Second leftenant had a good time last night". If Daveth went around telling everyone he had slept with Ash, then he was going to make sure that Shetlands transfer happened.

"Unless you want me to order you to run a hundred laps of the Presidium I'd shut up about what I did last night, anyway where did you two go Daveth said something about a Chora's den?"

"Oh me and Alf did go to Chora's den and it was bloody amazing there were Asari everywhere" Fergus said excitedly.

"What exactly is this place then?"

"Well basically Commander it's a strip club" Fergus said.

"A very good one at that might I add" Alf added. Oh so they had gone to a strip club to see Asari, he didn't get the whole Asari thing himself they were blue and had tentacles on their head.

He decided to steer the conversation away from strip clubs, to the upcoming hearing. "So you two ready for the hearing later?"

Fergus nodded, while Alf said "They won't ask me to stand up and speak will they?"

"Umm I don't think so, our helmet cams should have all the footage they need" he said. He thought to himself how embarrassing would it have been to have not used his helmet cam in evidence.

EDI's voice suddenly came over the P.A, "will Commander Shepard please report to the Conference room that is all".

He wondered what this could be about, he said "Oh well pity to cut this chat short but I will see you lot in a minute". After a brisk walk to the Conference room he saw Capitan Anderson waiting for him, "hello Shepard not too hung over I hope".

"No sir, umm what did you call me up here for anyway?"

The Captains expression changed to a stern look, "we have just received information that could heavily influence the trial tomorrow. A Turian Spectre by the name of Garrus Vakarian has contacted us; apparently he has information that can help prove Sarens guilt".

"Are you sure we can trust this Garrus sir, he if a Turian after all".

Anderson gave him a disapproving look, "not all Turians are out to get us John, but anyway he sent us a message to meet him at a bar in the wards called Dark star in about twenty minutes. I want this to be discreet Shepard, take only one of your squad with you I've also got permission from C-sec to be able to carry weapons on the citadel, EDI will send the location of Dark star to your scroll dismissed Commander".

After leaving the conference room, he started to think on who he was going to bring with him. Both Alf and Fergus seemed to have a slight hangover so they were out and Kaiden was out of action with migraines, that left either Ashley or Daveth. He chose Ashley in the end, as he didn't want to put up with Daveth's teasing.

So fifteen minutes later, both he and Ashley were waiting outside Dark star. Because Anderson wanted this to be discreet, they were both in civvies only carrying side arms, but luckily one of the Hastings engineers had worked a small shield system into their clothing. While he wore a black body warmer with a white shirt underneath it and jeans, Ashley was wearing a blue shirt with a union jack on it and a pair of black jeans she also had her hair down still. They stepped into Dark star lounge, and were immediately surprised at how crowded it was it was only two pm after all.

He said "how are we supposed to find this Garrus bloke in here?"

"Well you said he's a Spectre so I imagine he's that Turian over there in the blue and silver heavy armour, with the Spectre emblem on it" Ashley said while pointing to a table in the corner of the Lounge.

"Ah very good Williams, I noticed that all along of course". Ashley just responded by having a large smirk on her face. They walked over to the table where the Turian was sitting, he seemed to be using one of the omni-tools the council races seemed to favour and drinking a glass of some green liquid.

"Mr Vakarian I presume?" The Turian looked up from his omni-tool; he deactivated it then stood up.

"Commander Shepard, pleasure to meet you", Garrus offered him his hand.

He decided to take it, "nice to meet you too. this is Second Leftenant Williams, now with introductions out of the way what have you found that could help us in the hearing later?"

Garrus looked around then whispered, "keep your voice down Saren has ears all over this station".

Ashley spoke up at this point "I'm curious why a Turian Spectre is trying to help take down Saren?"

Garrus flashed her an angry glare, "Saren is a traitor to the council and a disgrace to my people that's why I'm trying to take him down".

Not wanting Ash to piss off the Turian Spectre any further he said. "Ok that's all well and good, but what exactly have you found?"

Garrus replied, "a way to prove Sarens guilt if my information is correct. A Russian intelligence agent was carrying something so dangerous to Saren he sent assassins to kill her and retrieve the evidence the she had against him. They managed to capture her but she had hid the evidence away and they couldn't risk killing her, so they are about to start torturing her to get the location of the evidence she's currently at Chora's den being held captive by a gang lord named Fist".

This was brilliant but it all sounded too good to be true, he had to check where this Spectre had got this information. "So how exactly did you come by this information?"

Garrus nodded in understanding "I heard it from the lips of one of Fist's gang members myself".

Ashley said sarcastically "what one of them just told you 'oh hey we got a captive with evidence to take down Saren'".

"Not exactly it took a bit of 'persuasion' of a prisoner that C-sec had brought in but he spilled his guts eventually, quite literally as well" Garrus said quite smugly.

He could tell that he could grow to like Garrus, Ashley said. "So shouldn't we be trying to go and rescue this Russian agent?" Garrus nodded, he picked up the glass he had been drinking from and downed the remainder.

"Lets go my air car is parked nearby, we'll get there in that". And so the three of them left the club, unaware there were three Turians garbed in black following them. A ten minute walk later, they were standing a deserted car park where Garrus car was parked.

He said "bloody hell Garrus, Spectre pay must be good, is that a GX 12 Phantom?" The GX 12 Phantom was a top of the line air car; It was metallic black mixed in with a slight bit of blue.

Garrus chuckled, "yes it is a GX 12 bought it for a bar…" Garrus was interrupted by a gunshot that bounced off his shields; the three of them dove into cover behind nearby cars. Three Turians garbed in black armour came through the door they had just come through; they were all equipped with what looked like smg's although he could never be sure with them being alien weapons. One of the Turians appeared to be a biotic as he picked up the car he and Ashley had taken cover behind, the car went down to crush him and Ashley until he put up a biotic barrier which deflected the car. With his biotic shield up and the enemy rounds bouncing off, him and Ashley got out of the open and behind another car. Just as the biotic Turian appeared to be getting ready for another attack his head was blown off, the shot rang out and echoed around the area. He looked to where the shot had originated from and was greeted by the sight of a smirking Garrus crouched behind his own car, holding a still smoking Black window rifle. Ashley managed to hit one of the Turians in the head with a pistol shot, which ripped straight through his shields this left only one. This last Turian attempted to run through the door they had come through; oh no you don't he thought. He focused his biotic power and charged, his charged ripped straight through the fleeing alien, creating a smear of blue blood on the floor.

He walked back over to Ashley and Garrus, "damn Shepard, never seen somebody do that before" Garrus said.

"You've got a bit of blood on your face, skipper". Oh he had better, wait what had she just called him?

"Where is it?" He tried wiping it off with the back of his hand, which resulted in laughter from Garrus and Ashley.

Ash asked "so who the hell were those guys?" Garrus walked over to the nearest body of the would be assassins, he checked it until he held up an omni-tool.

Garrus activated the omni-tool, then listened to a brief message on it.

Garrus walked back over to Ashley and him, "you two have to hear this, play last communication"

The omni-tool flashed then started the recording; it sounded like a female voice. "Your orders are to kill the Spectre Garrus Vakarian he is getting a little too close to the truth; if you succeed you will each be rewarded by Sovereign".

Ashley said, "well I wonder who that was and who is Sovereign?"

Garrus replied "most likely someone working for Saren, anyway we better move on we need to rescue the Russian agent before they kill her". So after the three of them climbed into Garrus air car which had managed to remain undamaged from the fighting, they took off for Chora's den.

Twenty minutes later the three of them were within sight of the entrance of Chora's den, and had eyes on a single Batarian guard. Garrus said "that's odd the sign says it's closed".

Garrus stepped out of the alleyway into view of the guard at the door, and was immediately shot at. "Oh ok then, they had warning we were coming this is going to make things a lot harder" Garrus said.

He thought to himself harder what was he on about, Shepard threw up a biotic shield and stepped out of cover. He used a biotic lift to pick the guard up, and then threw him off the side of the platform. He gave Garrus and Ashley a cheeky smile, and walked to the door of the strip club.

As they got to the door he heard Ashley mumble, "wish I had biotics". He and Ashley formed up on one side of the door way, and Garrus on the other.

They could hear movement coming from inside, he opened the door and poked his head out slightly and was met with a hail of weapons fire. He hit the door closed and it slid shut, he then had an idea and said "Garrus you wouldn't happen to have any grenades on you mate?" Garrus fiddled with his belt pouches, and produced three grenades in his hand.

"These are Spectre issue so they are quite powerful, should be able to clear the room".

Ashley asked, "what about if the person we're trying to rescue is in the room?"

Garrus said "she won't be in the front of the club; she'll be in the back room's".

Ashley asked, "so how do you know the layout of this place so well Spectre?"

"Oh errr I've been here for a couple of what you humans call stag do's", Garrus replied awkwardly.

"Fair enough pass me the grenades, and open the door on my mark" he said. Garrus passed him the three grenades; he primed them and activated his biotics.

"Mark", Garrus hit the door switch and it slid open. He used his biotics to throw the grenades and spread them around the room; the explosion was huge shaking the area. They waited until the smoke had cleared and the screaming had stopped, then the three of them moved in. The majority of guards were dead or dying and the bar was a mass of smoking metal, a bleeding Asari clutching her side took a couple of shots at them that went wide.

He decided to question her, so he used his biotics to rip the pistol she was carrying out of her grasp. He used his biotics to lift her up in the air slightly, "let go of me you dirty monkey" the Asari shouted.

He didn't appreciate that kind of attitude. "Ash put a round in her leg please; I don't appreciate people calling me a monkey", Ashley shot the Asari in the leg, she screamed in pain. He decided to ask his first question. "Where's the Russian?" It appeared like the Asari was trying to say a profanity; he couldn't have that so he gestured to Ash to put another round in her leg.

"Ahhh ok, ok she's in the back room just stop shooting me". He pondered what to do with this Asari; in the end he would leave the call to Garrus.

"Garrus you're the Spectre here what should we do with her?"

Garrus seemed to mull the issue over "leave her for C-sec".

"Fair enough your call Garrus", he proceeded to throw the Asari against a wall knocking her out cold.

Ashley asked "was that really necessary skipper", there was that name again not that he minded of course.

"No not really but I don't like being insulted". They started walking to the door that Garrus said led to the back rooms, as the door slid open they were met with the sight of two workers one Salarian one Asari holding crappy pistols to the trio's faces.

Garrus punched the one on the right in the jaw, knocking her out cold. Before the other one could respond he put him in stasis. The Salarian was trying to speak, so he deactivated the stasis field and ripped the pistol from the Salarians grasp.

The Salarian started shouting "ah please don't kill me you here for Fist, he's in the backroom with no guards see a human prisoner as well, I helped you please don't hurt me".

He looked to Garrus on what to do with the Salarian, Garrus said "get the hell out of here". The Salarian just started thanking them and ran off.

They finally got to the door that led to the room that Fist and the Russian agent were meant to be in. Ashley said, "ok what's the plan this time?"

"I throw up a biotic shield we then proceed to kill or capture this Fist bloke, oh and Garrus turn on your omni-tools recording function in case we can get this guy to talk".

"Will do Shepard", Garrus replied. And with that they stormed into the room under the cover of his biotic shield, they were greeted by the sight of Fist standing behind a red haired human woman who looked to be in her early twenties.

"Stop right there you move and she dies", Fist had a pistol pointed at the head of the woman. That wasn't a deterrent for someone with biotics idiot, he just ripped the gun out of Fist's grasp with his biotics. The women then proceeded to turn around and punch Fist right in the nose; this sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Bastard" she said, she didn't have an extremely thick Russian accent but it was there all the same. The women had long red hair and wore a forest green and red uniform with the emblem of the Russian empire on the breast.

She turned to them and looked like she was about to open her mouth to speak, when the sound of Fists manic cackling filled the room. "Hahhaaha you cannot stop Saren or Sovereign, you will all die hahahah". Fist started bleeding from the nose, it was then that he noticed a small onyx pyramid on a desk a meter behind Fist. It was glowing and the glow was increasing in intensity until it suddenly exploded. This knocked everyone in the room to the floor; he walked over to Fist but realized that the man was dead.

Ashley said, "umm Commander what the hell was that?" He honestly didn't know, but when he had looked at the object it was compelling. Garrus walked over to where the Russian women was lying on the ground, and helped her up.

Garrus asked "You alright miss…?"

"Zarah Tanya Zarah and I'm fine thank you", now that she spoke Tanya sounded very young.

He had to ask "how old are you exactly Miss Zarah?" She seemed to be uncomfortable with his question, as she started wringing her hands.

"I'm…nineteen" she said, so the Russians let their intelligence agents start young that made him feel old and he was only twenty five. She continued "this was actually my first mission; I was an engineer in the army before this".

He decided to finally get what they all came here for, "what evidence have you found against Saren?"

Tanya gave him a confused look "Oh so that must be his name, here this is the evidence, one of our AI's managed to get this from a Geth after an attack on one of our colony's. Play recording". An hologram shot out of the wrist computed Tanya had, the holo recording appeared to be taken from a Geths point of view. It showed a Turian which he assumed was Saren and an Asari walking down a corridor of a ship.

Saren said, "Eden prime was a major victory! The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit". What the hell was the Conduit?

"And one step closer to the return of the reapers". He recognised this voice it was the one that the assassins had taken their orders from, but who the hell were the Reapers, and with that the recording ended.

He said "come on we need to go, Captain Anderson is going to want to see this", and so once Garrus had called in C-sec the four of them left Chora's den to return to the Hastings.

The four of them finally got to the Hastings docking bay, but he was surprised to see Captain Anderson already outside talking to a men in a tan suit he appeared to be Indian and a Sikh as well as there was a Dastar on his head. Anderson finally saw him approaching and said, "Shepard it appears you've succeeded. This is Ambassador Musheer Gupta, he will be at the hearing with us".

He shook the Ambassador's hand, "It is a pleasure to meet you commander and I must offer you a personal thanks, my daughter was on Elysium during the Batarian attack if it weren't for you she'd be dead".

"I was just doing my job sir" he replied.

The Ambassador laughed at this "haaha only doing his job he says so humble, anyway lets get down to business where, is this evidence?"

"Well we actually got two pieces of evidence, one a recording from a gang boss named Fist and another from this Russian agent here Tanya play yours first".

After both Anderson and the Ambassador had heard it they asked the same questions he had, which was what was the Conduit and who were the Reapers.

They then listened to Garrus and his recording of Fists dying words. The Ambassador asked "so Spectre you will be willing to testify against Saren?"

"Yes I will Ambassador and with my word backing up your claims the Council should be willing to stand up and take notice".

The Ambassador asked, "I still have one question what was a Russian agent doing on the Citadel?"

Tanya replied "well we knew a Turian had been responsible for an attack on one of our colony worlds, so I was sent to deliver this evidence to the council and demand action a bit like you are doing. I'm sure our two governments would be willing to work together against this Saren if they knew we were after the same person".

The Ambassador seemed to mull this last point over, "hmmm you have a point I'll get onto the Russian embassy right after this hearing is finished with, but come the hearing is starting in twenty minutes we must leave but not before Shepard and his men change into their dress uniforms". Once Shepard had gathered the rest of the ground team from Eden prime and they had all changed into their black dress uniforms complete with cap and sabre they left for the Citadel tower.

Next chapter: We are going to need bigger guns.

Also since I forgot last time

Codex entry: Torfan incident.

In 2179 an Anglo-American cruiser liner was captured by Batarian pirates and taken to Torfan. There were hundreds of hostages, the British Empire and Americans were planning an attack to free them. But a Turian Fleet who were also after the Batarians, bombarded the site from orbit. This caused rage in the American and British populace and was the closest the Turians and any of the Human nations had come to war for two decades. The Turian forces were commanded by one Saren Arterius.


	8. Chapter Six: Invasion

Chapter Six: Invasion.

Shepard and his squad plus Garrus and Tanya had finally made it to the Citadel tower, Anderson was waiting for them by the bottom of the stairs leading up to the hearing. Anderson did not look pleased, "come on the hearings already started". As he got to the top of the stairs he could see the three council members they were looking at various helmet cam recordings from Eden prime Shepard also noticed one other thing a man dressed in what appeared to be the uniform of the Russian diplomatic corps Shepard assumed he must be the Russian ambassador.

Once the footage had finished the Salarian councillor spoke, "we have reviewed footage from the battle and evidence from the C-sec investigation and we have concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to link Saren with the attack on the Imperial colony of Eden prime, so Ambassador unless you have anything else to present this will have to be all".

Ambassador Gupta said "Councillors we have found evidence that proves Sarens guilt, Shepard and Garrus please step forward" Shepard did so, his sabre rattled against the inside of its sheath as he walked.

The Turian councillor upon seeing Garrus said, "why is a Spectre trying to help humans with baseless allegations against a fellow Spectre?"

Garrus replied to the councillor "because sir these are not baseless allegations Saren has gone rouge and this Woman here has proof as to maybe why Tanya if you will". Tanya activated her wrist computer and sent the video file of Fists saying Saren's name and of the Asari and Saren to the Council terminals. They saw the same video that he had seen at Chora's den earlier.

"I recognise that Asari, it's Matriarch Benezia" the Asari councillor said shocked.

Garrus said "she also sent assassins to kill me and mentioned something called Sovereign", Garrus then played the audio recording taken off the dead assassins and the voice was now recognizable as that of Benezia.

The Salarian councillor said "well my fellow councillors we are just going to have to face facts, Saren has gone rogue and this Benezia is working with him, but I wonder as to who this Sovereign is".

The Turian councillor replied, "probably someone working with Saren, but now on to the issue of our next course of action regarding Saren".

Ambassador Gupta said "you know Saren is hiding somewhere in the Traverse so send your fleet in and rout him out".

The Asari councillor sighed "a fleet cannot track one man ambassador and we do not want to risk war with the Terminus".

Ambassador Gupta had a look of rage on his face at these words "so you will stand by and do nothing? This is an outrage, if you do not take action the British armed forces will!"

The Turian councillor raised his voice to match the Ambassador's "Any Imperial ships passing through council space will be seen as an act of war by the HHHierarchy".

The Asari councillor bellowed "enough!" Shepard had to admit the Asari could raise their voices if they wanted to. "I have a solution that does not require fleets or armies", the Asari councillor said calmly he wondered what that solution was.

The Turian councillor replied "that solution would be?"

The Asari rolled her eyes at the Turian then spoke "that solution would be if we make this a joint operation between the humans and us."

Ambassador Gupta looked intrigued "what did you have in mind councillor?"

"Simple really we attach Garrus to the Hastings he assists you in the hunt for Saren while we get to spend minimal effort assisting you, he will be your free ticket as it were around Citadel space" the Asari replied.

Shepard noticed that what looked like a Russia naval ensign had come running up the stairs and was currently in deep conversation with the Russian ambassador as well as Tanya, Shepard couldn't make out what they were saying at this distance however.

The Russian ambassadors stepped forward once the conversation with the ensign was concluded suffice it to say the Russian man seemed to have visibly paled along with Tanya. "I regretfully inform this meeting that I shall be departing and leaving Colonel Sasha here to represent the Tsar, I apologize for my departure but an urgent matter has been bought to my attention good day" and with that the Russian ambassador left leaving a very confused group of marines and the biggest question is Shepards mind was why he had called Tanya Sasha.

In response to the confused looks of the councillor in response to the Russian ambassadors sudden departure Sasha spoke although her voice sounded completely different to how it did when Garrus and Shepard had first found her. "My apologies councillors but we have just received word that a large presumed Geth fleet has appeared in orbit over Zverevo one of our colonies on the border of the Perseus veil."

Shepard gulped as far as he could remember Zverevo was only a short FTL jump from Irkutsk relay and if Irkustsk fell then the Geth could strike at a multitude of human colonies. It was then that Shepard noticed the look of derision on the Turian councillors face (he thought it was derision anyway you never could tell with Turians).

"It is your silly Empires own fault for building so close to the border of the threat and it's quite fitting that the biggest ai user in the galaxy should be destroyed by ai" The Turian councillor said his tone dripping with venom.

The Asari and Salarian councillor looked at the Turian like he had gone mad and Shepard couldn't help but think that maybe the Turian had forgotten diplomacy 101. Tanya…no Sasha he corrected himself replied to the Turian "correct me if I'm wrong councillor but didn't the 'mighty' Hierarchy's military sit idle while a citadel race was almost completely destroyed by a rouge ai?"

The Turian nodded and said something along the lines that the Quarians deserved it, that's what most Turians seemed to believe Shepard thought to himself. Sasha nodded then replied with a face that seemed to hold no emotion "then you sat idly by for centuries permitting a hostile race of ai free reign of a section of the galaxy because they weren't a problem at the time? So you allowed a hostile race of ai develop for roughly three centuries even knowing what Geth were capable of having seen the annihilation of the Quarians? If that is the case then I'm sorry but you're are a bunch of fools."

The Turian councillor seemed ready to jump down and attack Sasha his[ face was visibly contorting with rage, it was only a blue hand on his shoulder from the Asari councillor that seemed to bring him back to reality. The Asari councillor announced in a commanding voice "I believe that this meeting can be adjourned if there are no objections to our terms that is?"

"No the terms are fair, we accept onto this little escapade with open arms" Gupta said smiling Shepard had to admit that man could smile like a Cheshire cat.

The Asari nodded "good now we must look to the defence of our own borders as well, we wish the best of luck to the British Empire and the Rossiyskaya Imperiya in your fight against the Geth good day ambassador."

Once the council were out of earshot Gupta turned around and said "I had hoped that would have gone much better but alas oh I have a question Colonel Sasha I would like to know why you deceived us as to your name and rank?"

Sasha looked at him with a blank expression on her face "My real name is Sasha Petovik I am an agent of the Tsar's intelligence agency I was under orders not to break cover so I did not I apologize for any offence caused , I must go ambassador while we stand here exchanging idle chit chat our troops are fighting and dying as we speak I need to get back to Earth farewell oh thanks for the rescue Shepard" she winked as she said the last part and walked off down the stairs heading towards the mass transit point. Shepard was still quite confused that she had lied to them but damn was she a good actor.

Anderson addressed Shepard "Shepard, me and the Ambassador will be heading to the embassies for now to discuss some things in the meantime go and relax it will most likely be a long time for a while. Dismissed."

Thus fifteen minutes later Shepard and his squad along with Garrus were sitting at a table in Flux although it wasn't anywhere near as busy as it was when they had come here the other night. Shepard was sat next to Garrus and decided to strike up a conversation with the Turian who looked quit out of place in the group of human marines. "So Garrus" Shepard said "are you okay with coming along with us? Because I'm pretty sure the council threw you to the wolves as it were ."

Garrus looked at Shepard puzzled " 'threw me to the wolves' what does that mean?"

Shepard sighed "oh yeah forgot you're a Turian, well it's a human expression meaning" Shepard was cut off mid-sentence by a a loud beeping emitting from his scroll device to let him know he had an incoming communication "sorry Garrus I have to take this."

Shepard activate the device a hologram shot out and he was greeted with the face of a very serious looking Anderson "Shepard report to the Hastings immediately and tell your squad to assemble in the briefing room, Anderson out."

Daveth moaned and Ashley sighed and said "well so much for r&r."

"Yeah too bad but you heard him get to the ship on the double" Shepard ordered the squad and they obeyed.

Ten minutes later Shepard and the rest of the squad finally made it to the Hastings and had assembled in the briefing room Anderson in full uniform was standing in the centre of the circular room. Once the entire squad were seated Anderson spoke "EDI please show the hologram I sent you" almost as soon as Anderson finished his sentence a holographic map much like the galaxy map in the cic (although it seemed to be only showing a small section of space) came into existence in the middle of the room. Part of the map was highlighted with red out lines while other parts were highlighted with blue, green , grey and white outlines. Anderson spoke again "the red areas show Geth controlled space the blue Imperial controlled space, green Russian controlled space and grey and white being the Germans and Americans respectively. Now precisely one hour ago the Russian colony of Zverevo was attacked by a Geth fleet…reports now indicate that the colony has been totally destroyed by orbital bombardment. What is even more terrifying is that the Russian navy has been pushed back through back through the Irkustsk relay and the Geth are now conducting offensive operations against four human planets." The map updated and the red on the map jumped forward eating into the green area and the names of four planets were on the holo map those planets being the two British colonies of Victoria IV and Maria while the other two planets were the Russia colony of Port Fredrick and the American colony of Jefferson.

Shepard was struggling to see logic in the Geths actions they had just bought the wrath of three empires down on their heads but for what purpose. While the map was updating with the movements of fleets Shepard looked around the room most people looked quite serious and angry apart from Daveth who looked pale as a ghost Shepard wondered why.

Anderson started speaking again his voice carrying the weight of authority "the Deep space fleet and the Northern fringe defence fleet are currently engaging Geth ships over Victoria IV and Maria however the Geth have already landed ground forces in the hundreds of thousands and millions of civilians are feared dead and it looks like on the ground Maria has been lost. I won't lie this looks like a full scale invasion and we are going enacting code Violet which means we are as of now on a total war footing." Anderson took a pause before continuing I also regret to inform you that I have been ordered by the Grand admiral of the home fleet himself that I am to report back to earth to captain the one of the new Excalibur class dreadnaughts."

Shepard was physically taken aback an Imperial colony had fallen to alien invaders? This was unheard of and from the looks of things fighting the geth would be a lot different from fighting any organic foe. Suddenly Shepard had a thought, "but sir who is going to command the Hastings?" Shepard asked.

Anderson smiled then pointed at Shepard "you are my boy."

Shepard double taked 'did Anderson just say he was giving me command?' Shepard stayed silent for a moment until responding "if I am to take command what are my orders I assume we are going to be heading to the front lines to fight the Geth?"

Anderson shook his head "no you shan't be doing that it would be a waste."

In response to this Daveth stood up red with rage "what!? We aren't going to the front lines? Right now are people are being slaughtered by ai and we aren't going to help my sister and her family are on Victoria IV she could be dead right now."

Ah now Shepard knew why Daveth looked so disturbed by the news of Victoria IV being under attack although Shepard had to say it was…discontenting to see the always happy go lucky Daveth appearing angry and upset.

Anderson fixed Daveth with a glare "Corporal please sit down and calm down I am sorry if you are afraid for loved one's my brother is a farmer on Maria so you are not the only one but we must remember to do our duty for King and country and I am sorry but your duty lies outside the meat grinder of the front lines. As of now this ship is being attached to the Sabre rapid assault group. There are three frigates of this very class in the assault group as well as the prototype cruiser HMS Jupiter under the command of Rear admiral Roberts, once I am finished briefing you all and have left the ship EDI shall set a course for the tear drop nebula to rendezvous with the HMS Jupiter then you shall use the relay to jump to the Feros system."

"Why Feros sir isn't it that crumpling Prothean planet? Also I thought we were the only ship of our class?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah it is I remember the Asari discovered it but promptly abandoned it citing the lack of artefacts I believe a Salarian corporation owns it now" Garrus replied to Shepard.

Anderson nodded "indeed it is but with the assistance of no other than the Turian intelligence agency we have discovered information that states Saren visited Feros with Geth not too long ago so that is where high command has ordered group Sabre to head first. EDI show the hologram of Feros oh and also Shepard the Hastings was the first launched yes but we have at least five more coming out of drydock as we speak." the holographic map warped into a grey planet. Anderson continued "as you can see Prothean ruins cover the planet's surface and the main colony is here" Anderson pointed to a point around the equator that was suddenly labelled with what looked like a Salarian name.

Once everyone had got a good look of the hologram Anderson ordered EDI to shut off the holograms once that was done Anderson walked over to Shepard. "You're a damn good solider lad you'll do fine good luck to you all and in response to this Geth invasion well… farewell Shepard stay alive" Anderson said.

Shepard was lost for words all he could manage was a firm handshake and a nervous chuckle "don't worry sir the Hastings will be fine we'll kick some Geth and alien arse won't we lads?" a cheer went up from the Marines. "Oh and no offence Garrus."

Garrus chuckled "that bought a tear to my eye Shepard."

Fergus looked at Daveth then back at Garrus "do Turians even have tear ducts?"

Garrus sighed while Shepard and Anderson started laughing "well God speed Shepard" Anderson said then under his breath he said in an almost whisper may "God help us all."

Thus Anderson left the briefing room leaving Shepard now in command of the ship and responsible for the life's of everyone on it 'don't get them killed like Elysium' a voice in his head said. He shuddered and turned around he was about to break up the heated discussion over whether Turians had tear ducts or not when the voice of EDI rung out across the room "Commander Shepard do you wish for me to set the course for the tear drop nebula that Anderson laid out?" Shepard nodded and EDI said "as you wish" and with that Shepard felt the ship lurch as it left the citadel docking bay and headed for the tear drop nebula.

He was about to head to the mess to grab a bite to eat when he felt a tap on his shoulder he turned around and found Ashley smiling sweetly at him that seemed odd for her "hey sir now that Anderson has left the ship I was wondering may I have his cabin?"

"What no I should have it for obvious reasons" Daveth said Shepard was glad to see the young man was at least trying to keep up the façade of being his usual self although Shepard could clearly see the pain behind his eyes.

Shepard replied to both Ashley and Daveth "well leftenant Alenko is the second highest ranking it should be his."

Alenko shook his head "I don't want it Commander I'm fine as I am."

Shepard rolled his eyes he could already tell this would be a…interesting journey regardless of how it ended.

Twas the end of chapter six. I apologize for my long period of absence from this story. I also plan to redo earlier chapters because my grammar in the earlier ones was even more horrible then tis now.


	9. Chapter seven: Attack on Feros

I would like to ask if anybody would be willing to be a beta for this story as quite frankly my grammar is quite shit.

**Chapter seven.**

Shepard was stood behind Joker in the cockpit along with Garrus and Daveth, they were about five minutes away from exiting FTL and rendezvousing with group Sabre. Trying to break the break the depressing mood that had prevailed the ship since the news of the Geth invasion Shepard attempted to strike up a conversation with Joker.

"So…Joker mate how's flying with EDI been going for you?" Shepard asked.

Joker while still keeping his eyes glued to the holo screens in front of him he replied "not bad to be honest commander been kind of bored up here though most people aren't up for chit chat now days it seems, so I've been kind of lonely. I'll tell you what though that what was her name Ashley something that you bought on board would sure be pleasant company."

Shepard rolled his eyes Joker acted a lot like a teenager on occasion. "Nah sorry Joker but a little bird tells me she's Shepards." Shepard without thinking elbowed Daveth in the gut. "Ow Commander I'm going to report you" Daveth said mockingly.

"Report me for what I didn't see anything, did you lads?"

Joker shook his head while Garrus looked clueless then said "but you did see him I mean you punched him?"

Shepard and Daveth looked at each at almost the same time then burst out laughing much to Garrus confusion. Shepard and Daveth were in snitches but Shepard felt pity for the confused turian and simply said "I'll have to explain sarcasm to you later mate." Shepard liked Garrus as for a Turian he seemed like a decent guy not like most of the ones he had met which seemed to have a stick longer than a Dreadnaught cannon up their arse.

The hologram of EDI suddenly materialized besides Shepard he didn't jump this time but it startled Garrus (and this raised a chuckle out of Daveth).

"Jeff we will be dropping out of FTL in exactly 8.0098 seconds" EDI said in her synthetic voice.

Joker rolled his eyes "yes, yes I know mom I mean it's not like I graduated top of my class no I have to be bossed around by a robot."

Shepard chuckled and patted Joker on the shoulder "it's a hard life isn't it?"

Joker mumbled "you have no idea she got rid of all my extranet bookmarks months of work wasted." Shepard looked at Joker confused but decided it was best not to ask.

Joker cracked his knuckles "alright we are dropping out of FTL in 3…2…1 and boom." The ship suddenly transitioned into real space and Shepard was greeted with the image of a large nearby star but apart from that the system seemed to be empty.

"Shepard I am picking up four vessels their tags show them to be Royal Naval these are most certainly group Sabre, Shepard we are being contacted opening a communication link now". One of the large screens in the right side of the cockpit was suddenly taken up by an older looking Asian man in the black and blue uniform of a rear Admiral so Shepard assumed this must be Roberts.

"Good day commander and congratulations on your first frigate command I knew your Father damn fine sailor but anyway down to business, I'm afraid face to face introductions shall have to wait as we are under orders to proceed immediately to the Feros system. I require that your AI link with the AI of the Jupiter as well as the AI of the Crecy, Rorke's Drift and the Waterloo once that is done we shall be underway."

Shepard nodded then turned to the avatar of EDI and shrugged "well you heard him."

EDI nodded "understood complying" she then closed her eyes and her avatar flicked for a moment before it returned to its normal self. "Synchronization complete, I am now fully connected."

Roberts nodded "good, now please have yourself and your marines report to the Hastings briefing room and I will leave you in in the capable hands of Juno, she'll brief you on the situation while we are in FTL, goodbye for now Commander."

Roberts face disappeared as the link was closed, well he didn't seem too bad Shepard thought to himself although he was left with a question who was Juno?

Shepard Daveth and Garrus filed into the briefing room for the second time that day and waited for the rest of the marines to arrive, once Fergus, Alf, Kaiden and Ashley were all there EDI's avatar appeared in the middle of the circular room.

"It is my pleasure to welcome aboard the AI of the HMS Jupiter designated Juno." EDI's avatar disappeared but a split second after that another holographic avatar appeared. This avatar was strikingly different to EDI however with the only similarity's being that they both appeared female and they both seemed to have what appeared like liquid mercury for eyes. The avatar had long red hair and it appeared to be wearing clothes that wouldn't look out of place in a nightclub. Shepard assumed this was Juno although he wondered how it was projecting itself aboard the Hastings but alas that was irrelevant. Speaking of the Hastings he noticed the ship seemed to shake for a couple of seconds before it stopped, they must have just entered FTL.

Garrus asked "this is Juno? I never got why you humans were so fond of Ai to be honest, VI's do the job and don't go on insane rampages."

Juno fixed Garrus with a semi glare when she spoke her voice sounded…more human like than EDI's there was less of a synthetic vibe to it.

"Oh you're the Turian that the ambassador foolishly agreed to allow on to our warships but I suppose we did need military access so you are a necessary evil. Hang on a sec and there we go, hmm your file isn't that impressive really , couple years stationed on a Turian backwater then a couple of years in C-sec oh and apparently you were once court marshalled for having sexual relations in the engine room of a Cruiser-"

Garrus's eyes went wide while the rest of the marines were struggling to contain laughter; Shepard decided to intervene at this point "um Juno as much as hearing about Garrus past is amusing me, I believe we were supposed to be discussing Feros?"

"Oh yes of course excuse my behaviour anyway as you can see here" Juno made a gesture with her hand and a holographic global map of Feros appeared. "The entire planet is covered in crumbling Prothean ruins as you have already been told, however our scout probes sent back some interesting images early this morning."

Shepard mentally chuckled when he heard Garrus say to Daveth "did she…did she just hack into citadel security and get my pre Spectre service records?"

About five small red dots appeared over Feros main settlement as well as a couple over the other two minor settlements throughout the planet. "As you can see here these are Geth ships that are in a holding position in high orbit above the colonial headquarters for the Citadel cooperation ExoGeni."

Kaiden leaned forward in his chair and asked a question that had been nagging at the back of Shepards mind too. "Isn't this a little strange? I mean Geth attacking a world on the very edge of Council space, why would they be interested in a bunch of ruins?"

Juno turned towards Kaiden and shrugged, EDI never shrugged it Shepard couldn't say exactly why but this AI appeared more human. "Unknown although if the Geth are interested in this planet and Saren is as well so should we…"

Juno waved her hand and the hologram shifted to show four blue dots as well as the Geth ships. "Before the shuttles can land the marine teams we need to first take out these Geth ships although this won't be as hard as it sounds the majority of these ships are lightly armed drop ships. Once they have been neutralized however the Marine teams from this ship and the H.M.S Crecy will be deployed to the service via shuttle. Both teams will be landing in the small settlement not far from the ExoGeni headquarters called Zhu's hope, the colony is built on top of one of the Prothean mega towers that cover the landscape. The marines from the Crecy will secure the settlement while you lot will be pushing on and then seizing the ExoGeni headquarters and hopefully find out what exactly the Geth hoped to accomplish by attacking this colony. To support you in this attack the Jupiter shall also be deploying sparrow drones to the surface to support you. Now any questions?"

"Yeah I have one…well two actually" Shepard said while having his hand raised he didn't know why he raised his hand probably an old habit from his school days. "What will the marines from the Rorke's drift, Waterloo and the Jupiter itself be doing while we are taking the ExoGeni building?"

"Those three ships Marine complements will be attacking the main force of Geth on the planet which is located in the capital of this planet which is fifty miles south of Zhu's hope and your second question was?"

"Why do we need the drones at all? Surely orbital fire support is more than enough?"

"Hurling projectiles at buildings that are ten thousand years old is generally not a good idea if you want said building to stay intact Mr Shepard the most we can offer is drone support" Juno replied.

A sarcastic AI well that was a new one to him but he nodded in reply supposing he didn't want the ancient structures to be coming over his head.

Fergus leaned forward in his chair and asked "I have a question ma 'arm, what is our guesstimate as to how many hostiles are in the AO?"

Juno's avatar tuned to face Fergus before answering "using data pertained about Geth ships from the front lines around Victoria I estimate in your drop zone there should be roughly one hundred to one hundred and fifty Geth platforms."

Fergus seemed to be mentally calculating and was silent for a moment before nodding and leaning back his chair, Juno smiled at Fergus then turned back around to face Shepard.

"So in summary the Ships sneak up on the Geth while cloaked then swat the Geth out of the skies, once that is done you lads land and seize the ExoGeni headquarters then await further orders. You roughly have around fifteen minutes until we reach the Feros system so I advise you and your team go gear up Shepard, dismissed." Just before her avatar faded Juno seemed to smile at Shepard, he couldn't help but think that she was more human like than EDI.

Thus ten minutes later Shepard and the rest of the marines including Garrus were sat in the shuttle bay making the final checks on weapons and armour. Shepard had finally finished putting into place the last bits of his Albion armour and was just double checking everything was in place; the only piece of the armour that was missing was the helmet.

He looked to the rest of his marines who were all fully armoured up while Ashley had her visor de-polarised and Garrus wore no helmet at all (despite Shepards insistence that he should) the others faces were completely covered up by their full face helmets. Shepard remembering that he still needed to put on his helmet grabbed it from out of the armour locker he was standing by and put it on and then extended the faceplate so it covered his entire face.

His vision was black for a brief instant while the helmet initialized its hud system, once it had initialized the Shepard polarised his visor obscuring his face. He looked to the others they were all covered in green outlines courtesy of the hud showing him that they were in his squad, another nifty feature of the hud system was that in the bottom right corner of your vision all the squad mates vitals were shown allowing a commander to tell when someone was injured or when someone was close to breaking point.

Shepard started breathing heavily and noticed the pre battle nerves had set in he attempted to get his ragged breathing under control as it wouldn't do for the squad to see him like that and his mind drifted and he did something he hadn't done in a while which was think of Liz he wondered if she was watching him?

"Get a hold of yourself Shepard they're only idiotic machines shoot them they die you and your squad will be fine" he said aloud.

"Umm did you say something sir?" Ashley asked him ah shit he had spoken too loudly luckily at that moment EDI's voice rang out over the PA.

"We are dropping out of FTL in precisely five seconds Shepard."

"Thank you EDI alright I want equipment and ammo count triple checked I don't want anyone dying because they ran out of ammo and please Garrus for god's sake put on a helmet."

Garrus opened his mouth like he was about to reply but EDI's voice cut him off. "We are dropping out of FTL in 3…2…1."

The Hastings as well as the four other ships of group Sabre entered the Feros system within five seconds of each and were only eighty kilometres apart the precision of this jump was thanks to the AI on all the ships.

Once group Sabre had reformed their formation made a small scale FTL jump so that they were within the gravity of the planet Feros itself.

Group Sabre got within optimal weapons range while still cloaked before firing the first shot of the battle was a slug from the main gun of the Jupiter which streaked across the sixty kilometre distance separating the Jupiter from its prey the prey in this instance being a Geth heavy frigate.

The slug tore through the midsection of the Geth ship completely destroying it and once the other Royal Navy frigates joined in the Geth started losing badly of course while all this was going on Shepard was still waiting for the all clear to be sounded so that they could board the shuttle.

"Oh EDI did you see that? That Geth light cruiser was just turned to dust ha their drop ships are trying to flee EDI fire Phalanx missiles. Oh boom haha on Shepard I tell you what you should be seeing this."

"Well Joker appears to be having fun…" Kaiden said to no one in particular.

"Well this should be over soon an-oh shit EDI two Geth frigates approaching distance fifty kilometres shit they're firing. Evasive manoeuvres now."

"Well that didn't sound good" Ashley said while sounding quite nervous. Shepard was about to use the com and ask what the hell was going on when the ship shook violently.

Shepard managed to remain standing however Ashley was not so lucky as she was sent flying to the floor. Shepard needed to know what the hell was going on so he used his com "Joker status report now!"

"Erm yep fuel lines check weapons systems check ok we're good don't worry commander we were fired on by Geth frigates they hit us but the shields held and thankfully the Crecy and Waterloo just reduced said Geth frigates to piles of space debris."

Shepards com crackled to life he was receiving a fleet wide communication and was surprised to see the face of the admiral appear in the top left of his visor.

"Alright that's the last of them everyone that was some fine fighting now if all ships will move into positions, we can then proceed with the landings, Roberts over and out."

Thus ten minutes later Shepard holding his Dominion assault rifle across his chest was on a shuttle bound for the planets service to add to the pre battle nerves he was feeling he also now felt slightly sick thanks to the constant bouncing around of the shuttle as it entered the atmosphere.

Shepard looked over to Garrus who was sitting opposite him unlike Shepard Garrus was sat up completely straight and he looked unperturbed by the shaking of the shuttle and while he was thinking of Garrus.

"Garrus why do you not wear a helmet?" Shepard asked Garrus simply shrugged.

"They restrict my vision reduce my line of sight and to add to that they are uncomfortable" Garrus replied.

Ashley who was sitting next to Shepard chuckled "you know I hear bullets to the head are quite uncomfortable as well."

Daveth de-polarized his visor and said with a smirk "you know I may have heard that as well but I mean who needs common sense am I right Shepard?"

Garrus sighed "okay I get it but until my head is blown off by a bullet or what have you have no right to complain. Plus when I kill more Geth then all of you combined you shall see how superior Turian military prowess is." Shepard, Daveth and Ashley scoffed at Garrus.

Shepard noticed that throughout this time Alf or Fergus hadn't talked they had both been fiddling with their weapons. Shepard decided to get them involved in the conversation it didn't do you any good to just sit there and brood "hey are you lads alright?"

Fergus answered first "yes sir don't mind us, me and Alf never really talk before a battle it's sort of our thing."

Shepard nodded and leaned back in his seat he decided to ask how long until they landed so shouting so he would be heard over the din of the shuttle he said.

"What is our ETA to touch down Corporal?"

The Corporal responded almost instantly "we are just about to touch down now the landing zone appears to be clear of Geth there appears to be a few aliens mulling around though, ok we are touching down in five seconds."

"Alright lads you heard him weapons at the ready, now when those doors open fan out and find cover the Marine team from the Crecy should land right after us so we are the first wave as it were."

His marines nodded Shepard stood up and waited for the doors to slide open, after what seemed like an eternity they did.

Shepard with assault rifle raised was the first out followed by Garrus, Ashley, and Daveth and of course Fergus and Alf. The shuttle swiftly took off again shooting off to return to the Hastings leaving Shepard and the squad in the middle of the colony as the few civilians ran behind cover.

They were in a small open area surrounded by hab blocks with a few crates scattered about, there were a few civilians in sight but most of them were cowering behind crates however he noticed a few had basic small arms pointed at the humans.

A Turian female appeared from behind a crate she had been taking cover behind.

"You're…You're human?" The Turian female said Shepard nodded and for added effect de-polarized his visor so that the Turian could see his face.

"Yep we're all human apart from Garrus of course, I'm not sure what he is" Shepard said jokingly.

"Oh Shepard you are so kind" Garrus said he then paused before saying "we mean you no harm I'm a council Spectre we came here to kill the Geth."

The Turian female seemed to smile at Garrus "so does this mean you're here to help us?"

Actually that was a good question activating a com to the Jupiter he attempted to contact the Jupiter for orders. He was surprised however when the face of Juno appeared in the top left of his visor.

"Hello commander what is it you require?"

"Hello Juno I've got at least a dozen civilians here what are our orders regarding them?"

Juno pouted her lips for a second before replying "surprising on Eden prime and on the land the Geth have conquered on the front they always kill the civvies I'm surprised they're still alive. Regardless you are to proceed with your original orders the team from the Crecy should be landing soon they are to hold the settlement while you push on Juno out."

He sighed and realised the Turian woman was still looking at him awaiting a reply "umm sure why not yeah we're here to help."

She smiled "thank the gods bless you" once Shepard had spoken more and more people started to approach the majority appeared to be Salarian and Turian.

A few seconds later the shuttle carrying the marines from the Crecy touched down in the same spot the Hastings shuttle had moments before. Seven marines piled out all with weapons raised a man walked up to Shepard while the rest of his marines fanned out with their weapons trained on the colonies civilians.

The man depolarized his visor "I'm Lieutenant Eckhart pleasure to meet you sir now I'm surprised these civvies are still alive from the reports we've gotten from the border with the Perseus Veil the Geth don't leave survivors" the man spoke with an Canadian accent .

Shepard nodded "good point leftenant we should probably ask the locals before proceeding further. You there…yes you the Turian female in the blue jumpsuit what happened here?"

The Turian female replied in a grim voice "about four days ago the Geth attacked they destroyed the satellites first so we couldn't communicate with the rest of the planet then they landed." The Turian paused and looked like she was on the verge of tears as she said "we lost half of the colony in the initial attack but we managed to hold them from entering the heart of the colony. Also I don't know if this is important but just before the Geth arrived some humans came they headed to the ExoGeni building I think an-"

Shepard cut her off "humans?"

Another Turian a male stepped besides the Turian female and place a hand on her shoulder before replying.

"Yeah about a dozen they were all heavily armed and let me just say as a former military man I could tell they were packing enough firepower to level a hab block however they ignored us and headed straight for the ExoGeni building."

Well this was odd Shepard needed more details "what did they look like what any stand out features?"

The Turian nodded "yeah the armour was all quite bulky it was also dark blue in colour."

Fergus asked over the squad wide com so only Shepards squad could hear "who the bloody hell could these people be then?"

"I don't know but hopefully if they headed for the ExoGeni headquarters they thinned out the Geth for us" Ashley replied.

"Cut the chatter" Shepard commanded "alright we proceed on to the ExoGeni building while Eckhart you and your lads secure the colony. Alright then locals what's the quickest way to ExoGeni?"

The Turian male seemed to be about to open his mouth when a bullet whizzed past his head with the shot coming from behind Turian quickly dived into cover pulling the female down as he did so however a few other civvies were not so lucky as they were cut down by Geth gunfire.

"Shit Geth are attacking from the tower, please humans you must help us."

Before Shepard could even respond his squad and Eckharts had already taken cover and opened fire about a dozen Geth swarmed out of the entrance to the tower and the marines opened fire but they were soon suppressed by the sheer amount of firepower the Geth were pouring on their position.

Shepard joined in with this chorus of gunfire by leaning out from behind the crate he had taken cover behind and firing a few bursts into the advancing Geth platforms. He noticed Garrus was using a Phaeston assault rifle (the assault rifle of the Turian army) and was firing short controlled burst at a Geth heavy trooper. It wasn't just the soldiers fighting however as the colonists were fighting as well even with the basic firearms they had although Shepard found it strange how the colonists seemed to fight with a robot like precision if he didn't know he would say he was observing trained soldiers.

The red and orange projectiles of the British weapons were in stark contrast to the blue slugs that the Geth weapons fired. A couple of Geth rounds impacted the crate Shepard was taking cover behind and it appeared that another dozen Geth platforms were streaming through into the colony proper.

A Salarian that had been cowering behind a block of what looked like concrete was hit by a flurry of Geth gunfire. Shepard took a deep breath and peered out from behind his cover the Geth that were streaming out of the tower were all bunched up and they appeared to be focusing fire on Eckharts team giving Shepard the perfect opportunity.

Activating the squad com he shouted "everyone give me and Kaiden covering fire we're going to hit them with a singularity."

Everyone acknowledged and renewed their fire while Shepard charged his biotics. Once he felt he was ready he singled Kaiden and they both quickly jumped out of cover and launched their biotic attack.

The singularity detonated in the middle of the Geth formation sending a dozen flying and causing others to start floating up into the air.

"Fuck yeah nice going Shepard alright lads open fire" Eckhart shouted over the com. Eckharts men in tandem with Shepards unleashed a hail of gunfire on the now helpless the laser based weapons of the marines ripped through the Geth like they weren't even there.

The Geth that hadn't been dispatched by the singularity recovered in almost an instant and as one they resumed their fire this time they were all targeting Shepard.

"Oh shit" Shepard threw up a biotic shield just in time to stop himself from being shredded by gunfire but luckily he managed to throw himself behind cover just in time. Taking deep breaths he leaned out of cover and fired four controlled bursts of his assault rifle each burst hit a Geth square in the chest although hat disturbed Shepard was when each Geth was destroyed they let out what sounded like a robotic death screech.

Once the last of the Geth had been destroyed Shepard stood up from behind his cover the rest of his squad still had their weapons trained on the way the Geth had come from. He observed the battlefield a dozen dead Turians and Salarians but thankfully none of his squad had been killed or even injured for that matter. The same could not be said for the Geth however as dozens of Geth platforms littered the ground in front of the tower entrance.

"Everyone alright?" Shepard asked everyone replied in the affirmative well that was good their first engagement with the Geth since Eden prime and no deaths. He turned to Kaiden who was breathing heavily "good job Kaiden that was some bloody nice biotics."

"Yep we're all fine and did anybody see the three headshots in a row I pulled off?" Daveth said while he inserted a fresh magazine into his rifle.

Shepard looked over to Eckharts team "oi Eckhart you alright mate?"

Eckhart stood up from behind his cover and ran up to Shepard "yeah the squads fine" Eckhart paused and looked at the dead civilians "it appears that the aliens weren't so lucky."

Shepard had to agree he noticed the Turian woman with the male walking up to him and Eckhart.

"Those Geth came from the tunnels if I would have to guess you have just reduced them to quarter strength but I would please ask…no beg you to assault the Geth in the tunnels we need to keep IT safe." The male Turian almost seemed to be pleading.

"Wait keep what safe?" Garrus asked as he walked up to them smoking Phaeston in hand.

The male Turian blinked and his eyes seemed to glaze over for a second before replying "oh umm what are we talking about yes the Geth in the tunnels please destroy them."

Shepard had to say the Turian was behaving oddly he didn't seem quite all there.

"Commander I have a suggestion my team and I go clear out the tunnels while you and your time take the skyway to the ExoGeni building" Eckhart said.

"Good idea I agree alright we best be on to the skyway good luck Eckhart" Shepard extended his hand and de-polarised his visor. Eckhart responded in kind and so they shook hands then said their farewells as they both headed to their destination.

After what felt like a ten minute elevator ride they arrived in what looked like some sort of Garage as there was a few vehicles they all appeared to be badly damaged civilian rovers so it appeared they were walking across the open and exposed skyway this couldn't possibly go wrong.

Ten minutes and ten near fatal experiences later Shepard and his squad were halfway across the skyway but they were currently being suppressed by a duo of Geth colossus walkers and were stuck behind a Geth barricade. Fortunately all was not lost as Alf was carrying the thunderbolt anti-tank weapon, the thunderbolt was another one of those pieces of human technology that was reversed engineered from the technology on Mars the thunder bolt was essentially a more advanced form of the Martian heat ray that fired a highly a brief but incredibly powerful laser blast. The thunderbolt derived it's name from the colour of its laser as it fired a laser of a brilliant gold.

Alf de-polarised his helmet and smiled at Shepard just before he leaned out of cover. "Hostile walker thirty meters north target marked firing" he pulled the trigger and fired the laser beam which travelled at relativistic speeds hit the Geth walker and ripped straight through its shields then it proceeded impact the hull causing it to explode this in turn destroyed several Geth infantry platforms which were standing under it.

The remaining walker along with the few Geth troopers redoubled it's efforts as it started to advance on their position they needed to reload fast. Alf turned around so his back was facing Fergus, Fergus in turn pulled out one of the cricket ball sized energy cells that Alf was carrying in his back pack, although the energy cells may have been small they carried the power to rip through almost any tanks Kinteic barriers or shield system. Fergus jammed the cell into the back of the thunderbolt and tapped Alf on the shoulder letting him know he was good to go however there was a problem as Geth fire was whizzing through the air around them if Alf poked his head above the cover…well Alf swiftly wouldn't have a head.

Shepard had a plan however he looked over to Kaiden who along with Ashley and Garrus was crouched five meters behind what appeared to be an overturned IFV of some sort although he couldn't tell who it belonged to as the paint seemed to have been burned right off. Using the inbuilt com system Shepard spoke "hey Kaiden I'm going to need your help with something, I need you to help me create a biotic shield around Alf so he can fire the thunderbolt can you manage that mate?"

Kaiden gave a thumbs up although Shepard couldn't tell what his facial expression was behind the visor. Shepard and Kaiden created the shield which bathed Alf in a Purple aura.

"Wow this is…odd" Alf said while examining his now purple covered hand.

Shepard was breathing heavily did this idiot know how much energy creating a shield like this took? "Alf if it isn't too much trouble your commanding officer is ordering you to fire on the hostile armour not look at the purple lights, fire!"

"Oh of course sir sorry sir firing now" Alf stood up and fired the recoil from the thunderbolt making him shake but the energy weapon hit square and true impacting right through the neck of the walker this sent its head flying off of the skyway into the abyss below.

The squad cheered as the remaining Geth started to retreat towards the ExoGeni building. Shepard seizing on this moment of triumph rose form his cover assault rifle in hand and started jogging ahead the only obstacle left was a rise in the bridge then it was about twenty meters to the although that would have been the only obstacle left if not for the sight that suddenly confronted Shepard as he crested the rise.

Shepards jaw almost hit the floor and he probably would have died right there if not for the years of training which told him to get into damn cover. He dove behind a small burning rover as a red laser swept through the position he had just been in. He peeked out from behind his cover and was horrified standing there right in front of the entrance to the ExoGeni building was a *Geth titan.

The Geth titan seemed to stare at Shepard its single glowing 'eye' just seemed to be observing him while the Geth infantry units ran past the titan into the ExoGeni building and a large metal door slid shut over the entrance to ExoGeni. The Titan stood in front of the recently shut metal airlock, the ten meter tall machine slowly started raising its hand and faced its palm towards Shepards position. Shepard was frozen in place he wanted to move but he couldn't seem to what the hell was wrong with him?

He was standing there frozen as the titan began charging its energy weapon although the titan never finished charging as suddenly a golden beam of light slammed into the centre of its chest sending it crashing to the ground.

Shepard was snapped back to reality by someone grabbing his arm and pulling him back he looked to see who it was, it was too small for any of the men it must have been Ashley. He was indeed proved correct when she de-polarised her visor, "sir, sir are you alright?" She tapped his visor for added emphasis.

"Yeah fine thanks for the save by the way I would have most likely have been turned into a pile of ash if you hadn't saved me…ha ash…Ashley" Ashley simply rolled her eyes.

"Um sir I think it's getting up" Shepard heard Daveth in a tone that sounded like genuine fear.

Shepard looked towards where the thing had fallen, he couldn't see anything apart from the dust although as he looked closer he saw a single pinprick of glowing red light which was starting to expand. Shepard flicked on his infra-red visor mood and sure enough the thing was starting to get back on its feet and worst of all it appeared un scathed (granted there was now a large dent in its chest but still).

The Geth titan stepped out of the smoke caused by the thunderbolt impact small fires were burning in the thunderbolts point of impact, the colours of the flames were in deep contrast to the onyx metal that surrounded them.

Garrus spoke while aiming down the sights of his rifle "oh yeah it is defiantly getting back up." The titan took two more steps forward each footfall left an imprint on the surface of the skyway once it had taken those two steps however it stopped then seemed to turn its head towards Alf who was desperately trying to reload the thunderbolt but in his fear was making it harder than usual. The titan seemed to give off a synthetic screech similar to the one Geth gave out when they died.

"Not only is it getting back up but it is majorly pissed, um commander I suggest a tactical retreat is in order" Shepard was only dimly aware of Daveth speaking as he noticed the titan was starting to charge it's energy weapon and it was aimed right at Alf.

Just as the beam fired however Fergus pulled Alf out of the way this was their chance it took the titan a few seconds to charge up so if Shepard and the other marine could distract it long enough for Daveth to reload they should be alright.

"Fucking shoot the bugger fire, fire!" Shepard ordered at the top of his lungs Ashley, Garrus, Daveth and Kaiden all followed sweet and started gunning away at the titan.

Naturally their bullets were doing shit all damage but it did the job the titan turned its glowing eye to look at Shepard and co the titan seemed to observe them for a few second while their rounds (even Garrus shield piercing rounds) bounced harmlessly off the shield of the titan.

The titan did something that was unexpected it started walking towards Shepard what was the most surprising of all however was the thing spoke.

In a deep booming voice like rolling thunder it said "Nazara desires your destruction human and I shall obey" Shepards only reply was a burst of his assault rifle which was easily repelled by the titans shield it was just that the door to the ExoGeni building slid open and about a dozen Geth troopers came pouring out with guns blazing.

All seemed lost until Shepard heard the tale-tale sound of low flying aircraft and missiles rained down on the approaching Geth infantry units, the large explosives annihilated the Geth infantry the few survivors attempted to pull back but they were mown down by Shepard's squad. A single missile seemed to hit the titan square in the chest however since Shepard was right by the titan the explosion sent him flying on to his back, while the missile had sent Shepard sprawling the titan seemed only staggered.

Juno's face suddenly appeared in the left side of his hud she looked worried her brow was creased and her eyes were wide.

"Shepard!" She shouted his name so loud Shepard didn't even hear the gunfire from his fellow squad mates. "You have to hit it from behind its frontal armour and shielding is too strong my drones will distract it while your thunderbolt hits the bastard from behind. Also one last thing I'm so sorry about that bit of danger close right there probably should have warned you."

"Yes of course yo-what's it doing?" Shepard asked in confusing as he saw the Geth titan had turned its attention skyward and it's 'head' appeared to be tracking the low flying drones as they turned around to make another pass. The titan tunred to face the drones exposing it's back to Shepards squad, it raised its hand and a crimson lance of light shot out and directly hit one of the drones in the nose of the aircraft obliterating it in one shot.

"Well" Shepard said he activated his squad wide coms, "It's now or never. Alf get behind the thing then fire squad distract it as much as you can we've only got one shot at this so in the name of the King no fuck ups!"

Another lance of light shot out from the Geth war machine hitting one of the drone aircraft in the wing which sent it flying into one of the other crumbling Prothean skyscrapers. The last drone didn't go do without a fight it fired four missiles at the titan. The first two missiles impacted harmlessly on the shields but the last two managed to punch through and hit the thing in its centre mass. However this didn't damage it but Shepard saw that Alf and Fergus were now in position to fire and he smiled behind his visor then gave the order.

"FIRE!"

A golden flash shot out of the thunderbolt and ripped straight through the titan's shields and carried on to gouge straight through the titans armour and into the creatures back.

The titan seemed to stop moving for a second before it fell to its knees then finally fell over the side of the skyway plunging to the surface of the planet proper.

"Well…seems David won again…because you know David vs goliath" Daveth said through ragged breaths.

"Hey Dav" Ashley said.

"Yeah?"

"Was that meant to be a joke?" Ashley asked while she reloaded her assault rifle.

"Well I tried to think of some cool one liner but nothing came to mind" Daveth said now having regained his breath.

Shepard walked over to Alf and Fergus who were both sat down and with their helmet faceplates retracted were each drinking from a canteen.

"I'm afraid we are still in a combat zone so get your helmets back on we need to clear out ExoGeni" Shepard ordered. He then smiled and said "but tell you what next time we're at a club or whatever I owe you two lads a beer that was some jolly good shooting."

Alf smirked then said "I prefer Russian Vodka and Fergus here prefers Whisky."

Shepard smiled and rolled his eyes "hmm I guess I can stretch to that but come on lads stand up return to formation we head into ExoGeni."

Ten minutes later and Shepard and his squad were deep in the ExoGeni building although so far they had found diddly squat. There were a lot of bodies of both civvies and Geth alike but someone seemed to have wiped all the computer terminals they came across even Garrus had been unable to retrieve any data they had been wiped so thoroughly.

As they went deeper into the building the amount of Geth bodies had increased to the point where the marines literly had to walk on the Geth. As the marines walked into the latest room Shepard was surprised to see what looked like a onyx clawed hand in the middle of the room and in the centre of the claws grasp was a bright ball of light however it wasn't the ball of light or the onyx claws that were surprising no it was that this room was covered in bullet holes.

Dozens of Geth dead lay under foot but what was most surprising were three bodies that were lying on the ground just in front of the onyx claws they were humans in what appeared to be dark blue military grade armour.

Shepard leaned in close the bodies were lying down in pools of their own blood with dozens of bullet holes riddling them. Kaiden walked up to one of the bodies and gently turned it over.

"Umm commander you might want to take a look at this" Kaiden said while pointing at the chest plate of the dead man.

Shepard looked where he was pointing and did a double take the thing Kaiden was pointing at on the dead man's breastplate was a flag of stars and stripes.

"Americans?" Shepard paused then continued "what the hell could the yanks possibly want with this place hmm hey Kaiden does it say what units he's from? Also Fergus and Alf go watch our six don't want us getting attacked from behind" Alf and Fergus nodded and then they jogged towards the entrance to the room.

While Kaiden was searching for a means of identifying the man the others were discussing the carnage they saw before them.

"This strikes me as a last stand three of them against dozens of Geth. They did a damn fine job though I mean just looking at how many of the robots were turned to scrap." Ashley said while looking around at the room.

"They were probably protecting that door" Garrus said while pointing to a door at the opposite end of the room to that which they entered.

"Actually good point Garrus come on lets go check it out" Daveth said he started to walk towards the sealed door but a firm grip on his shoulder stopped him.

Ashley de-polarised her and said "hey Dav you are aware that there could still be Geth in the building correct? We shouldn't go on ahead."

"Pfft Ash you can plainly see as well as I that the majority are dead the main Geht force were located in the main settlement anyway and the Marines from the Jupiter and Rorukes drift are dealing with them. Come on Garrus" Daveth shrugged off Ashley's hand and with Garrus started towards the door.

Ashley curse under her breath then followed them towards the door. As they made it there they discovered that it had been sealed electronically and as such which have to be hacked.

"Umm I think I can open this give me a sec" Garrus activated his omni tool and set to work on the lock. "Hmm it appears that whoever programmed the lock certainly knew what they were doing with this."

"So you can't open it then?" Daveth asked slightly disappointed.

Garrus chuckled "bah of course I can this door is no match for Spectre Garrus Vakarian and his trusty human sidekicks."

"Watch who you're calling sidekick Turian" Garrus looked at he, he was unsure weather he had offended her or not as her helmet was preventing him from reading her facial expressions (not that he could read human facial expressions very well either). He was about to apologize for offending the human female until Ashley cracked a smile.

"If anything you two are the sidekicks and I'm the beautiful heroine" Ashley said through a chuckle.

Garrus and Daveth looked at each other and scoffed then Garrus looked to his omni tool and said "alright I've got the door just barely the program is already trying to destroy mine so we should open it now you ready?"

Daveth nodded and raised his assault rifle at the door as it slowly began to slide open.

Meanwhile Shepard and Kaiden had been examining the bodies "sorry commander the only markings on the armour are the stars and stripes and this thing."

Kaiden was looking at a symbol that all three American bodies had on them it appeared to be a three headed black wolf with blood red eyes.

Shepard was about to reply to Kaiden when an explosion and a scream of pain emitted from the opposite side of the room. Shepard looked and saw Daveth sprawled on the floor with Ashley standing over him.

Walking over to them Shepard said "what the hell is going on here?"

"Um my fault sir I think I must have triggered a mine or something ah god my leg hurts" Daveth said through gritted teeth.

"Kaiden give him some medi-gel, Garrus and Ashley come with me" Shepard ordered as he started walking towards the open doorway with his rifle raised.

The door way led out onto an open corridor that looked like any of the other corridors in the building except this one wasn't covered in bullet holes but there were several over turned desks that seemed to have served as makeshift barricades.

He took a step forward and then another he was almost to one of the desk one he suddenly felt himself float up into the air.

"Shepard!" Ashley shouted, Shepard panicked for the briefest of instants before his training kicked in getting out of another biotics grasp was one of the first defence methods they taught military biotics.

Someone stood up from behind the desk wearing the same dark blue armour the dead Americans had been wearing but there was one difference to the corpse's this person was very much alive and was wrapped in the purple aura of a biotic field.

Ashley and Garrus opened fired but their bullets bounced off the biotic barrier the armoured American had concealed themselves in. The biotic promptly threw Garrus and Ashley through the doorway and back into the next room.

Shepard chuckled the biotic seemed to grow angry at this and they increased the pressure on the hold they had Shepard in.

Shepard licked his lips and de-polarised his visor "alright we don't have to fight yank, so I'm going to count to three and on three you let me down or there will be trouble."

It was at this point that Ashley and Garrus followed by Alf and Fergus came running though the doorway and with rifles raised took aim at the American biotic.

The biotic seemed to lose concentration for just a moment when the other marine's came in but that was all Shepard needed.

He activated his own biotics and broke out of the American biotics grasp much to their shock, Shepard then used a half powered biotic charge which smashed into the American and sent both Shepard and the American flying down the corridor and promptly Shepard with the force of the charge smashed the American biotic into the wall at the end of the corridor the American then slumped to the floor.

Shepard through heavy breathing spoke "you know…I could have killed you then…but I didn't because I'm a nice bloke."

The biotic appeared to be trying to get up but Shepard used a stasis field to prevent that, he heard the sound of boots hitting concrete behind him and saw Ashley, Daveth, Kaiden and Garrus running to catch up to him.

"No you can't get up I'm afraid now let's have a nice little face to face conversation shall we?" Shepard de-polarised his visor and without waiting for an answer Shepard used his biotics to pull the helmet off the head of the American and was surprised to find out it was a woman.

She had long black hair which fell to her shoulders with no helmet to contain it and bright blue eyes although her eyes told a story in of themselves she looked traumatised and desperate the massive bags under them showed she had had very little sleep recently, he could also tell she must have spent a lot of time in space as her skin was as pale as a ghost.

Her eyes darted to his shoulder pad the right hand one with the union flag emblazoned on it.

"Are you going to actually say something limey, or are you going to continue staring?"

Her voice was defiantly that of an American it didn't sound as harsh as he would have thought it would be, he was about to respond when he heard his squad mates stop running.

He went to turn to speak to them but he was surprised that his vision was met with the barrel of what appeared to be a shotgun.

"Get off of Lucy you bosh'tet" a female Quarian with a purple coloured visor in front of him said.

Lucy took advantage of Shepards split second confusion and activated her biotics and promptly kneed Shepard in the gut he felt this even through the armour.

"Thanks for the distraction Tali" Lucy said while she smiled at Tali , Lucy wrapped her arm around Shepard's neck and had Tali point her gun at Shepards approaching squad mates.

"Now if any of you move I blow pretty boys head off does that sound fair?" Lucy said as she flared her biotics.

"Now I'm flattered you think I'm pretty but maybe if we all…ow ow that is my neck that is making that clicking noise" Shepard gritting his teeth as Lucy appeared to be tighten her grip around his neck.

The entire building seemed to suddenly shake and gunfire seemed to echo from down the way Shepard had come and Alf and Fergus came sprinting down the corridor at full speed.

"Commander we have Geth lots of them and…what's going on here?" Alf said as he raised his rifle at Tali and Lucy.

'Great more Geth and not only Geth but now I have to deal with this crazy Yank. Why can't things ever be simple?' Shepard asked in his head to no reply.

**End of chapter seven.**

Now I'll say again I really need a beta so if anyone is interested please message me cheers.

*Codex entry Geth titans.

Geth titans are heavily armoured bipedal units currently in use by the Geth against the Human Empires of Earth. They are roughly analogue to the battle suits employed by many human militaries although none of them with the exception of the Japanese lighting are as large.

Geth titans stand at over ten meters tall and resemble their smaller Geth cousins in body shape however they are made out of an as yet undiscovered material which is able to withstand weapons of all calibre there is even one report of an incidence when a Russian Tank squadron engaged a single Geth titan in open battle and was wiped out to the last man, Geth titans shields and armour plating are nigh on invincible from the front and there is no denying the morale drain friendly forces experience when one of these appear on the battle field.

Their weaponry consists of heavy lasers that can destroy most targets as well as shoulder mounted missiles. Geth titans when probably supported by Geth infranty and heavy armour are deadly forces on the battlefield.

There have been reports of titans speaking although none of these have been confirmed as of now titans are seen across the front line in the Geth war.


	10. Chapter Eight: Weed killer

Would just like to ask again if anybody would be willing to beta for this story, I would also like to say thank you to everybody who has favourite and followed this, I don't think I have done too badly for my first FF story anyway on to Chapter eight.

**Chapter Eight: Weed Killer.**

"Ok let's all calm down here we are not here to hurt you, so how about you let me go, we are all friends here, we are not trying to hurt you I can not say that enough." Shepard was trying to bargain with the woman he could tell just by looking at her that she was traumatised and he really didn't want to have to hurt her, although she had already hurt him. He swore his intestines had been destroyed when she had attacked him, although maybe his stomach rumbling was just a sign of hunger.

'Why am I thinking about food when I am in a life threatening situation hmm?'

Tali began lowering her shotgun much to Shepard's relief, "Are you infected with the spores?" Tali asked but Shepard nor any of his squad had the foggiest as to what she was talking about.

"Infected with what now? I mean I have a bit of a cold I think I picked up off of Ed in engineering but it's not spores" Daveth said while he looked down the sights of his rifle which was aimed down the corridor in the direction of the approaching Geth.

"Is there honestly no situation where you won't attempt to make a joke?"

In reply to Ashley's question Daveth de-polarised his visor, he winked at her then said "oh I know you love my humour Ash" Daveth smirked as he finished speaking.

'Are these two flirting in the middle of…You know what never mind time to get out of this hold this woman has got me in.'

Shepard put on his best calm gentlemanly voice, "ok Lucy is it? How about you let me go, we need to deal with the Geth first okay?"

Lucy seemed to be staring off in the distance her eyes were glazed over Shepard wondered what see had seen to make her so obviously mentally unstable.

Shepard felt Lucy tremble and wondered what the cause was when he noticed the female Quarian had her hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"Hey Luce how about you let him go he can help us kill the Geth" when Lucy failed to respond Tali continued "you don't want to end up like Andres and Ivan do you?"

Lucy seemed to snap back into reality, "oh emm…no of course not…I'll, I'll let him go."

Lucy let the arm she had coiled around Shepard's neck go limp and Shepard quickly got out of her now limp hold and he didn't waste a second.

"Ash, Daveth go take positions on either side of the doors we came through. Alf and Fergus take cover behind those overturned desks."

Shepard paused for a moment of thought before speaking again "Alright Kaiden you and me are going to create a biotic shield over those doors to prevent these wankers from getting though as for Garrus, mate stay here watch over these two" Shepard gestured at Lucy and Tali.

"Of course Shepard good luck" Garrus replied. Shepard nodded he really did like Garrus he couldn't explain it but he just felt like Garrus was a decent bloke.

Once everyone was in position it didn't take long for the Geth to arrive they swarmed through the doors of the room with the dead Americans, and the AI instantly opened fire on the Royal Marines however these Geth seemed different unlike the black coloured Geth these were clad in red.

The Geth pulse rifles rounds harmlessly impacted against Shepards and Kaiden's biotic barrier. It was then that Shepard's squad opened fire their rounds being allowed to pass through the barrier.

The three leading Geth were felled but their comrades as soon as the leading Geth were felled dived behind cover and proceeded to return fire this fire also included what appeared to be a rapid fire pulse cannon which appeared to be capable of firing a thousand times per minute.

Shepard and Kaidan were straining to hold the barrier under the sustained Geth pulse fire, Shepard was starting to get a migraine and he swore he felt blood trickle down from his nose. This barrier was putting incredible strain on him he looked over to Kaiden and saw him visibly shaking.

But he felt the burden lift slightly it felt as if the barrier was much easier to hold now but he wondered why. He looked over and saw Lucy had activated her biotic power and was now propping up both Shepard and Kaidan.

Shepard managed a strained nod at Lucy she nodded back and he noticed that sweat was already beginning to trickle down her brow they needed to take out these Geth.

He noticed Ashley toss a grenade which landed next to two Geth which had taken cover behind an overturned desk. The grenade exploded and the shockwave sent a few nearby Geth flying to the floor. The Geth started to advance going from cover to cover and they were getting closer to the barrier, it was then that Shepard noticed a small holographic drone fly past him and head straight for the Geth and it seemed to send a spark of electricity at the nearest one which then promptly turned and started shooting.

"Woo go Chatika, okay now I just need this hacked Geth to use its pulse rifle and...there we go now we have an obedient Geth" Shepard heard Tali speaking to herself so she had just hacked a Geth? He could believe it as the Geth were confused for about ten seconds and just stood there letting it attack them.

When the Geth finally responded the AI squad focused fire on the hacked Geth and felled it in short order but the hacked Geth had done its job and the Geth had been forced out of cover.

Shepards squad redoubled their fire and four Geth platforms were annihilated by the combined fire from Ashley and Daveth alone and Garrus joined Fergus and Alf in laying down fire on the Geth that were taking cover behind the onyx object in the middle of the room. The remaining Geth were bunched up near there, Shepard saw a chance to end this.

He unslung his rifle and activated the grenade launched that was attached to the rifle, aiming down the sights Shepard calmed his breathing and pulled the trigger. The grenade went sailing through the doorway and into the Geth formation killing three of them right off the bat a few others had limbs blown off.

Now the main bulk of their force had been put down the Geth were slaughtered by Shepards squad the last two Geth tired a suicidal charge and against Shepards biotic barrier. Shepard's entire squad focused fire and the two charging Geth were ripped apart in a hail of gunfire.

Shepard turned around to face Tali "that…that drone was…good thinking you did good mate" Shepard paused and looked to Kaidan, he patted Kaidan on the back as he stop again "good work there mate damn that was hard am I the only one who got a migraine from the effort?"

Kaidan shook his head his then undid the clasps around his helmet and took it off Shepard wasn't surprised to see that he was dripping in sweat from the effort it took to maintain that barrier. Kaidan fiddled with the utility belt on his armour before withdrawing a bottle of pills from one of the pouches, he unscrewed the cap and took two out and swallowed them. It was then he looked up and noticed Shepard staring at him.

"They're headache pills commander, for the migraines."

Shepard nodded in understanding before he turned to face the rest of his squad who were walking up to meet him. "You guys all alright none of the Geth pulse rounds got through did they?"

Everybody said no apart from Garrus who was rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward fashion "well one seemed too, it only just missed my head but luckily this Turian is hard headed."

Shepard chuckled "yeah too hard headed to wear a helmet Garrus we know."

Garrus smiled and said "well when you're this good looking why would you want to hide it? Now I know you can't understand having that sort of problem Shepard but try to look at it from my point of view, a face this good needs to be seen."

Shepard scoffed and just shook his head as he walked off to go and talk with Lucy and Tali.

Daveth nudged Garrus and said "hey mate you're finally getting a hang of sarcasm."

Garrus flashed a smile at Daveth and then proceeded to slap a new heat sink into his rifle.

Shepard was standing next to Tali and Lucy who were talking in quite whispers between themselves as Shepard approached they stopped and stood silent. Well he guessed it wasn't a good idea to trust people you just met, but he didn't like the fact they appeared to be plotting.

Clearing his throat Shepard began to speak "so I need to know why you two are here?"

Tali seemed to glare at him before she pulled out her omni tool and appeared to be pointing it at Shepard.

Shepard furrowed his brow and said "umm excuse me but what the bloody hell are you doing?"

"Scanning you for the signs of Thorian infection" in reply to Shepard simply staring at her, Tali sighed and continued "the Thorian is a plant like life-form that stretches across this part of Feros, it can infect sentient life with airborne spores that let the Thorian take complete control of a subjects nervous system allowing the Thorian to control them."

Shepard was taken aback "what the hell, where is this thing?" Shepard was quite terrified the thought of someone controlling him against his will made him shudder.

Lucy brushed away a lock of her hair that had fallen over her eyes and said "well from what we have learned from this place's VI the things centre is located under the colony of Zhu's hope but it grows across this entire continent , ExoGeni were using the colonists like test subjects."

"That's…despicable I mean wow just…Jesus Christ" Shepard turned around just in time to see Ashley finish speaking so she had heard them talking but Shepard had to agree with what she had said. "Hey commander do you think that is what Saren came here for?"

Lucy seemed to tense up at Ashley's mentioning of Saren, "so are…are you Brits hunting Saren too? I assume it's because of his attack on Eden Prime?"

Shepard de-polarised his helmet and nodded "yes and by you saying 'too" I assume that is why you are here also, but I must ask what happened to you why you are alone?"

Lucy clenched her fists and said "a few months ago one of our military bases was raided by Saren and his Geth they stole a bea…something very valuable, we had been trying to track him but to no avail he had gone to ground but just before his attack on Eden prime he reappeared on the radar so to speak."

Shepard raised one of his eyebrows in confusion and asked "wait why wasn't anybody aware of an attack on an American military base?"

Lucy replied swiftly "we hid it from the public." Shepard supposed that was a smart move if whatever was stolen the Yanks didn't want it being widely known. "Anyway" Lucy continued "we got intel that Saren had visited this planet and as the only lead we had my squad was sent to investigate. There were seven of us including me we arrived about a week ago about four hours before the Geth attack."

Shepard nodded "okay so what about Tali why was she with you?"

Lucy looked to Tali and then Tali started speaking surpassingly her accent sounded eastern European he supposed she was using a Russian made translator. "I wasn't with them initially, you see I had come to Feros as a part of my pilgrimage the Quarian way of showing one's self to be an adult. I came here thinking that I might be able to find some Prothean artefact to bring back to the fleet, so I got a job on one of the ExoGeni salvage teams. To cut a long story short I couldn't help myself and I hacked into one of the Exogeni computers found out about the Thorian confronted them about it (which I admit was kind of stupid) then got thrown in a prison cell."

Shepard appreciated the info but it still didn't explain how Lucy and Tali met he went to open his mouth to speak but Lucy spoke first. "My squad and I learned about this from Tali and we assumed this was what Saren was after, so we attempted to leave the ExoGeni building via the skyway but…there was a massive mech of some kind blocking the way it's weapons and armour was…unlike anything I have ever seen. It vaporised two of my squad mates and I mean completely it completely vaporised them the laser it used turned them to ash. So realising we couldn't leave and with our ship having been destroyed when the Geth attacked, my commander decided we would attempt to help the ExoGeni security staff defend the building but it was hopeless we tried getting back into contact with command but the Geth ships in orbit were jamming us so after about two days of defence this building fell, they strangely tried to ignore us at every turn and attempted to go after the civilians we saw dozens of the civvies dragged into the Geth drop ships."

Lucy paused she then crossed her arms and faced away from Shepard before she continued "they even dragged away Andres and Ivan while they were still alive and stuck them on these giant spikes…they turned into monsters that I had to kill...I had to kill them. After that we retreated to the core of the building, me and Tali were further on ahead and we heard Mike, Nick and Andrew getting attacked but I was too scared to move so we waited until the Geth moved on then sealed the door which your Turian hacked through. We have been hiding in here for about two days."

"So you are hunting Saren because of something he nicked from one of your bases? So you had info that of the Geth being hostile but your government thought it didn't want to share this information? We could have prepared for the Geth maybe Maria wouldn't have fallen if we had prior warning" Shepard said angrily if the Yanks had shared this information lives could have been saved.

Lucy seemed taken aback at what Shepard said "isn't Maria that planet on the border of the Perseus veil? And how do you mean it fell. Wait did the Geth attack?"

'I've been an idiot she's been here for about a week so the Geth invasion will be news to her' Shepard took a deep breath and said "Yes it fell to the Geth the Geth are attacking all along the border with the Veil that includes several American colonies."

Lucy seemed lost for words after a long pause she said "I need to report back to command I need to get off this damn planet."

Shepard was about to reply when his hud let him know he had an incoming communication he accepted it and the image of Eckhart the hud was showing and image of the man's face from inside his helmet. The man looked worn out and tired Shepard could also hear bursts of rifle fire from near Eckhart.

"Commander Shepard me and my squad need you back at Zhu's hope right away we need back up we…" Eckhart paused as he seemed to grit his teeth then Shepard heard the tell-tale sign of a laser weapon being discharged.

"Ok Eckhart I read you what is your status what happened?" Shepard asked Eckhart seemed to shout something to one of his man before replying.

"We cleared out the Geth in the tunnels no problem but as we arrived back in the colony the colonists…well they want mad sir they started attacking us with whatever weapons came to hand we…we lost Aanandi and Van Zyl but that wasn't the worst part…the worst part was these green humanoid things they are like bloody green demons sir, when we put our rounds into them they refuse to die and they bleed green ichor. We retreated back into the tunnels and now have them in a chokepoint they are throwing themselves at our guns but sir we are starting to run low on energy cells and we're down to the last belt of ammunition for the Vickers."

So it appeared the colonist were being controlled by the plant because there was no way they would randomly decide to attack a heavily armed marine squad. "Okay I hear you leftenant we'll be right there just hold on, I'll let the Jupiter know of our situation also make sure you keep your suit sealed the colonists are infected with mind controlling spores so just…for the love of God don't take your helmet off."

"Mind controlling…bloody hell okay sir we'll hold out here just bloody hurry Eckhart out." Eckharts image dissipated from Shepards hud.

Shepard wasted no time in contacting the Jupiter and Shepard was surprised to find he was greeted by the voice of Roberts himself, "Commander I hope this is important as currently the we are bogged down against the Geth in the capital, so speak quickly." Shepard spoke as quickly as possible condensing the mission thus far and the current situation into about three minutes worth of words. "Americans here? Never mind that for now anyway I'll be sending a shuttle down you will need to get back to Zhu's hope as quickly as possible also from what you said the colonists are being…mind controlled so shoot to injure not to kill but if you must kill them but if you can help it try to keep them alive, also your main mission now is to destroy this Thorian creature. Roberts out."

Shepard turned to his squad and explained the plan to them surprisingly Lucy and Tali offered to come along and help and Shepard had to admit he was relived having another biotic and a tech expert would come in handy. And so Shepard slammed a fresh energy cell into his rifle and the group headed out of the building as they walked past the onyx claws in the room that held the dead Americans the hairs on the back of Shepards neck stood on end.

Five minutes later Shepard and his squad had boarded a shuttle that would quickly drop them off in the centre of the colony unlike the rest of his squad who sat down Shepard walked into the cockpit and stood behind the pilot. EH really had to admit this planet could be breathtakingly beautiful, he could see on the horizon behind the ancient Prothean towers the sun setting on the horizon although below the beauty there was also the sorrow of this being a dead world full of the ghosts of the Prothean empire.

As they approached Zhu's hope the shuttle started taking small arms fire from the colony however it was harmless and didn't even deplete the shields. The colonists were all bunched up around the only landing zone the shuttle could land in and Shepard knew that storming out from the shuttle there would be very...difficult.

"Sir you are going to take hits if you charge out there do you want me to thin them out for you?" the pilot asked his face invisible behind the flight mask although he sounded Kenyan.

Shepard looked at the pilot especially his thumb hovering over the button that would activate the shuttles weapons, but Shepard seeing no other option had to agree to the pilots suggestion and hey maybe he was doing them a favour he knew that if his mind was ever taken over that he would like to die rather than live as a puppet. Yeah he was doing them a favour. The pilot looked at Shepard awaiting a reply as he continued to circle the drop zone.

"Yes…thin them out if you would please" Shepard said solemnly. The pilot nodded he made the aircraft start circling the colony as a vulture circles its prey, he then flicked the switch on the joystick activating the shuttle crafts weapons.

"Alright lance heavy assault weapons are loaded up and ready and the spitter is ready firing now." The spitter was military slang for the M78 anti infantry weapon and Shepard could see why it had earned the name the spitter, the thing was firing at a startling rate. Dozens of the spitters bullets hit home. Brainwashed colonists attempted to find cover but the hab blocks were little defence against the sheer amount of bullets the spitter could pump out.

Most of the colonists dispersed and fled leaving a grim faced Shepard standing behind the pilot "okay… umm…set us down." The pilot nodded and the shuttle started to descend. As the sun was starting to set the shadow on Zhu's hope left by surrounding skyscrapers had plunged the colony into shadow. Shepard took one last look out the cockpit before walking back into the shuttle proper, "Alright squad make sure all your weapons are loaded and ready to go, when these doors open…be ready for anything."

Shepard felt the shuttle jolt as it touched the ground and hit the panel that opened the doors to the shuttle they slid open and instead of being greeted with gunfire Shepard was greeted with the sight of dead bodies and the lingering smoke created by the spitters rounds. Once his whole squad has disembarked the shuttle shot back up into the sky the setting sun gleaming off of the shuttles green and brown hull.

With rifles raised Shepard and his squad advanced Shepard tried raising Eckhart on the comm's but there was no answer, that had him worried. As his squad walked the only sound to be heard was the crunching of their boots on the broken glass that littered the floor from the ruined habs. As Shepard walked he heard what sounded like gurgling, this was creeping the hell out of Shepard who thought this was a bit like one of those bad horror films you would see on one of those trashy telly channels. Shepard advanced to this source of the gurgling with rifle raised as he walked he finally rounded the corner of one of the ruined hab blocks and saw what was making the noise.

The female Turian from earlier was laying on the floor in a puddle of her own blood with multiple bullet holes marring her body, this was Shepards fault he had ordered this…no he was doing them a favour and so pushing the rising tide of guilt down Shepard walked over to the female Turian and kneeled down beside her.

"Human…it wants…me to kill you even now…but…but I won't" the Turian said through a quivering voice he noticed her eyes were starting to glaze over. She weakly raised her right hand and attempted to grab the pistol from Shepard's belt. Shepard simply pushed down her hand gently, there was nothing he could do for her, she had lost too much blood.

The Turian coughed and this bought up a torrent of blue blood, Shepard was about to say something when he heard footsteps behind him. Turning around he saw a very sombre looking Garrus. Garrus nodded at Shepard then knelt down next to the female Turian he took her hand in his and said grimly "would you like me to preform last rites? Also I would need your name."

The female nodded and leant back and said through rasphing breaths "my…my name is Alys."

Garrus nodded then then started speaking in a crisp and clear voice "Palavar sprit off guidance I beseech you that you guide Alys through the mountains of Rhu. Oh Gondolin sprit of Justice I ask that you judge this woman for her deeds in this life and deem her fit for the journey ahead. Finally I ask that Yindoloin will allow you rest in his mighty domain and that her soul will be by your side for eternity."

Finally Garrus said something in the language that Shepard recognized as Turian but his translator couldn't seem to make heads or tails of what he said. Whatever he said seemed to make the female Turian smile, she then turned to Shepard at this point her eyes were almost fully glazed over and he could tell she was nearing death. "I want…want to thank you I…I feel like I am in control of my own body for the first time in…well longer than I can remember it seems to sense I am dying and it is releasing control. I…I know you hunt it, it reside below the colony use those crane controls and it shall lead you to what you seek good luck…"

Alys eyes fluttered shut and her chest became still, Garrus stood up and patted Shepard on the back "it will be okay come on we need to go and find Eckharts squad."

Shepard shook himself out of the state he was in and stood back up, he activated the comms and attempted to contact Eckhart after about twenty seconds of trying Shepard finally got through.

"Leftenant Eckhart are you alright what is your status?"

"Shepard…I have good news and bad news…"

"Okay Eckhart what is the good news?"

"The good news is no more of my men died…"

"And the bad news?"

Eckhart sighed and Shepard knew right away he was not going to like this "well it appears that they have broken off their assault…and the green monsters are now heading to your position en mass so I would be ready for them and I'll be honest there is no way we can help you, our energy cells are all dead so our guns are useless."

Shepard sighed he knew he wasn't going to like it "okay thanks Eckhart, I'll get in touch again If we survive Shepard out. Okay lads you heard him we have got a swarm of pissed of monsters heading our way so get into cover and we-"

Shepard was cut off mid speech by what sounded like a howl of rage coming from behind him. He quickly turned around his rifle raised and saw emerging from the entrance to the tunnels dozens of green skinned humanoids, they had claws as long as Shepards forearm and their green skin was crisscrossed with bulging veins.

The lead creature roared again Shepard didn't need telling twice he squeezed the trigger of his rifle and the red laser bolt shot out and hit the creature directly in the chest it even burned right through and hit the creature behind him, much to Shepards horror however the thing simply looked down at the burning hole in its chest then it looked back up it's dead eyes staring into Shepard.

The lead creature roared and charged the others dozen or so monsters followed suit charging into the fray as well. Shepard didn't even need to give orders as the squad opened up on the monstrous creatures the red laser bolts from the British weapons really stood out against the darkening sky as the sky finally started slipping below the horizon.

The first line of creatures got within two meters of Shepard and started screaming like mad man Shepard held down the trigger and let his rifle pour out a continuous stream of fire into the two nearest attackers. Alas it was all for naught as the damage to the body didn't seem to affect these creatures Shepard was just about to activate his biotics when a shotgun blast from the side of him knocked out the two creatures he turned to the side and saw Tali holding her shotgun.

He gave her a curt nod then turned to the oncoming horde seeing them all massed up Shepard decided what the hell and threw a grenade into the charging mass the grenade just happened to be an incendiary grenade and it exploded in the middle of the charging horde with a brilliant orange flame.

Shepard was overjoyed when he saw the thing start to burn they appeared to be completely helpless to fire, Shepard laughed and redouble his gunfire aiming for the head this time and this seemed to do the job as his calm precise headshots were killing far more of the monsters. He was about to take out another monster when the one he was aiming at head exploded from what Shepard looked to his left trying to find he had stolen his kill when he saw Garrus smirking.

As the last of the horde was eventually dispatched Shepard breathed a sigh of relief and surveyed the battlefield he was pretty sure half of his armour was coloured green from the sheer amount of blood these things shed.

"Woo British Empire one , Space demons/plant monsters zero" Shepard had to chuckle at Daveth although Shepard could tell that underneath that Daveth was worried for his sister on Victoria as he still hadn't heard from her but the bloke was putting on a brave face.

"So Shepard, I killed I would say about twice as many as you and just to let you know, no I am not counting that cheap grenade" Garrus said jokingly.

Shepard just chuckled they had just been in a life or death situation and Garrus was already cracking a joke, well at least Garrus and Daveth between them would keep morale up.

Ten minutes later Eckhart's battered and bruised team were coming out of the tunnel entrance most of them appeared to be sporting an injury of some kind Eckhart saw Shepard and walked up to him. Eckhart appeared vastly different to the last time Shepard has seen him, his armour was now scratched and battered with a single large claw mark down the breastplate as well as the blood that seemed to be coming from an injury to his side that Eckhart had his hand over, but Eckhart showed no discomfort if it was affecting him.

"Thanks alot Shepard me and my men would have been monster food if you chaps hadn't shown up when you did. I lost two of my men but they will be remembered and hey it isn't all bad." Eckhart paused and looked down to the injury on his left side "at least I have a new scar to show the missus."

Garrus walked up to the side of Shepard at this point and said mockingly "I thought it was only Krogan females who liked scars?"

Eckhart laughed "oh she can act like a Krogan when she is angry believe you me…I assume Shepard that you will be going to destroy the Thorian thing you mentioned?" Shepard nodded he wasn't looking forward to it but a thing like the Thorian needed to be destroyed.

A shuttle was called to evac Eckhart's wounded squad and Shepard had sent a request to the Jupiter to send down some special equipment. Shepard walked up to the evac shuttle and dragged out a small crate of what he had asked for and opened it with eagerness inside of them was the Z4 otherwise known as the firestorm. As the shuttle lifted off evacuating Eckharts squad Shepard handed out four of the firestorms to his squad he had one obviously, two went to Ashley and Daveth and the last was given to Lucy since she didn't have a weapon apart from her biotics.

Shepard hit the crane controls and the hab block slowly rose up revealing a hidden passage, unfortunately it also revealed four of those green monsters which came charging out and made a beeline straight for Shepard.

Shepard smiled with glee as he held the trigger on the firestorm and a jet of flame shot out and covered all four of the creatures in its fiery embrace. They screamed and thrashed about but died very quickly.

Shepard looked to the rapidly darkening sky and decided he should turn his night vision on he ordered the rest of the squad to do the same and as usual they mocked Garrus for not wearing a helmet so he had to relay and a torch that was mounted under his gun.

The squad started to descend into the hidden passage but just as he was about to head down Shepard stopped for a split second and glanced at where the dead Turian lay before he continued on.

As they descended into the dark passage ways Shepard became more and more on edge they even came across some plant like roots hanging from the ceilings and jutting out from the floors and Shepard didn.t know why but he had the feeling they were being watched.

"Okay so Shepard this is a plant right? So surely we just find this thing then use the firestorms on it then boom…Thorian (burnt) salad." Daveth asked as they started to round a corner into what looked like a large central chamber of some kind.

"Well from the files I read it is meant to be quite…oh Keelah that thing is massive" Tali said as they finally rounded the corner and beheld the Thorian for the first time.

Shepards jaw would have it the floor if he hadn't have been wearing the helmet he was shocked it looked like a cross between a squid and just eww he thought it looked disgusting and it needed to die as soon as possible.

As he started to approach it the thing didn't react, when he raised his firestorm however the thing seemed to have a fit and it seemed to be convulsing. Shepard took a moment to appreciate just how putrid this Thorian was. He was just about to pull the trigger on the firestorm when something even more horrible happened. What appeared to be a green Asari slid out of one of the creature's orifices?

The Asari looked horrible she was naked and similar to the creatures they had fought earlier she had bulging green veins poking out from all over her body and her eyes they were white but they appeared to have no pupils. The green Asari fixed it's gaze on Shepard and seemed to recoil in horror when it saw the small flame burning at the end of the firestorm.

"Got that away from the old growth, you all of you are invaders nothing more than meat to the growth."

Shepard raised an eye brow at this strange Asari he lowered his firestorm then said "well that is charming and all but who the bloody ell are you?" He was trying to avoid looking below hee eyes so he didn't take in her naked form.

The Asari seemed to calm down when she saw him lower the firestorm. "I speak for the old growth as I did for Saren; you stand before the Thorian meat it demands you be in awe."

Shepard scoffed this plant certainly had a large sense of self-importance it was then Shepard realized what she had said. "You served Saren what did he want on this planet why did he seek out the Thorian?"

"Saren sought knowledge of those who came before trades were made however he broke his word when he had the cold ones start killing the flesh-"

Shepard held up a hand "alright let me stop you right there what exactly did Saren take? Enough of this… bollocks, tell me what I need or I'll pull this little trigger."

The Asari looked enraged "you dare threaten one who has sruvied countless cycles the Thorian existed when your race of flesh was barely climbing out of the trees…enough of this you shall die for your transgression and the-"

Before the Asari had even managed to get off another word Shepard had pulled the trigger on the firestorm a torrent of flame shot out consuming the green Asari and the front portion of the Thorian Shepards night vision was overwhelmed by the light as it lit up the chamber. The Asari died quickly but the Thorian started thrashing around in pain and Shepard noticed to his horror that swarms of the creatures they had fought earlier were swarming from other parts of this chamber.

Luckily however since the Thorian controlled these monsters and the Thorian was now starting to burn they were nowhere near as combat effective as they were before and they were easily dealt with. Shepard turned back to the Thorian as it thrashed around in pain and he felt a brief moment of pity before he remembered what it had done to the colonists and he pulled the trigger on the firestorm once more.

The Thorian was thrashing so violently that Shepard thought the chambers would collapse as it started shaking but instead as the fires spread the roots that were holding it suspended started to fail and the creature fell it's death cry echoing throughout the chambers as it's fiery form plummeted into the abyss.

Shepard turned to his squad and de-polarised his helmet "is everyone…everyone okay?" He asked through laboured breaths.

They all nodded in the affirmative just as Shepard was about to call for an evac one of the fleshly sacs behind Ashley started to move.

"Umm Ash I'd advise stepping away from the moving thing behind you" Daveth said as he raised his firestorm at the fleshly sac.

Ashley made a noise that sounded like a cross between a scream and a cry of surprise as she quickly moved out of the way an went to stand besides Daveth and so with the entire squads weapons pointed at it the sac opened and an blue Asari in a black jumpsuit fell out.

The first thing the Asari saw when she opened her eyes was the barrel of Shepard's firestorm pointed right at her face.

"I'm…I'm free but Saren…the Thorian…" The Asari seemed to mumble.

"The Thorian is dead by my hand specifically by this thing…well I'm pretty sure it's dead not many things survive being burnt alive and a thousand foot drop" Shepard tapped the end of his firestorm for extra emphasis.

"You killed it! I suppose…suppose I should thank you, my name is Shiala" she extended her hand to Shepard who refused to take it and kept his weapon trained on the Asari. "I thought that was the traditional human greeting maybe a hug is better?"

Shepard found that so ridiculous he couldn't help but chuckle "no it would not be better now, would you mind telling me who in the bloody hell you are and what were you doing trapped in that?"

"As I said I am Shiala I serv…served Matriarch Benezia, when she foolishly allied with Saren so did I. I don't know why she did it in fact I have no clue in the months leading up to her pledge of loyalty to Saren she had been acting odd…especially ever since she had acquired that ancient artefact but I digress." She paused and seemed to scrunch up her face as she said "Saren has…an iron will if you spend enough time in his company especially that ship you will come to see as he does."

"Wait ship? Is this the vessel that attacked Eden prime?" Shepard asked he had a hunch it was.

She nodded "it is an massive dreadnaught of immense power Saren calls it Sovereign it…is more powerful than any ship I have ever seen."

Daveth chuckled and said "you obviously have never seen the HMS Aeron that things main guns could most likely crack a small moon open."

The Asari shook her head "no it's not just in it's weapons it's…well it's very presence it indoctrinates you to believe like Saren does the process can take days or weeks but in the end…it is absolute. I blindly followed Saren to this world as he needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian."

"Okay love terribly sorry but can you skip to the part that matters namely why Saren came here in the first place?" Shepard asked he wanted a clear answer none of the bullshit that the Thorian Asari gave him.

Shiala looked slightly annoyed but continued regardless Saren came here to gain the cypher he attempted to destroy the Thorian with his Geth to prevent you from finding the conduit."

"Okay what the hell is the Conduit and what the hell is the cypher?" Lucy asked she walked to stand next to Shepard.

"In response to the first question I do not know Shepard, Saren never shared his plans with me all I know is that it appears to be the lynch pin of his plan. Now as to your second question the cypher can be used to understand the visions that Saren gained from the Prothean beacon."

"Well I've used a Prothean beacon could the cypher allow me to understand the beacon?" Shepard asked.

Shiala nodded "oh yes the visions may have been meant for the Prothean mind, but I could give you the cypher which will allow you to understand the visions it's the least I can do to repay you."

"Okay that sounds good but how exactly will you do that?" Shepard asked Shiala smiled and took a step towards Shepard which prompted Shepard's squad to train their weapons on her once again.

"I will transfer the knowledge from my mind to yours like I did with Saren I assume you have heard of Asari mind melds? That is how this will be achieved but I do warn you the Cypher can be very…demanding on your mind, are you sure you are ready?"

Shepard sighed he really didn't want this Asari poking around in his mind but if Saren was using these visions to track down the Conduit he supposed he would have to too. "I suppose I have no choice go on then do your mind meld" Shepard was honestly not looking forward to this.

Shiala nodded and stepped forward hers eyes went black she smiled and said "open yourself up to the universe commander embrace eternity!"

Shepard suddenly felt the most intense head pain he had ever felt as he relived the Prothean visions again this time with much more clarity. He saw massive armies of four eyed aliens fighting dozens of cybernetic abominations, he saw planets fall as ships that looked like skeletal hands bombarded them from orbit. A stand out point of the vision was what looked like the citadel opening and swarms of ships pouring out what appeared to be a portal, then what appeared to be a planet of some kind with odd looking statues and a rust colored sky. He wanted to see more but it was then that Shepard's vision stopped.

When he opened his eyes his vision was swimming and he felt like he was going to be sick he fell to one knee and shot out his hand to stop himself from hitting the floor. Lucy grabbed him and helped him back to his feet again "Commander are you alright what did she do?"

Shepard still couldn't quite focus because his vision was still swimming but he managed to say "I don't know I saw what appeared to be battles of some kind it was much clearer but it still didn't make any bloody sense." Shepard paused for a moment and with his vision still swaying said "Umm If you will all forgive me, but it appears that I am about to pass out. And with that Shepard crumbled to his knees and fell into unconsciousness just before he slipped away however he managed to think to himself ' I really need to stop doing this, this is the second time I have collasped at the end of a misson.'

End of Chapter Eight.

So we are finally leaving Feros I would like to thank all my readers and I have hoped you have enjoyed the story thus far.

Also let me know what you think about the Turian "spirit" thing I put in I couldn't find much information about Turian religion apart from that they worship spirits and since they are based on the Roman empire I figured I would have their afterlife mirror that of Elysium.

Please don't be shy to review cheers guys.

Next Chapter: Aussie Blues.


	11. Chapter Nine: Aussie Blues part one

This shall be a shortish chapter as I want to get something out tonight so hence why this shall be a two part chapter.

**Chapter Nine: Aussie Blues (Part one).**

"I regretfully inform you that we have lost contact with the Emperor and the Amplitudo principes so…as of now I am the highest ranking Dux in the Prothean Empire." The four eyed alien in grandly adorned golden armour said in disbelief, almost as if he didn't believe the words coming out of his mouth.

Shepard wasn't sure if he was dreaming he felt like he was actually here. All Shepard could see was blackness the only thing that was visible was this alien which he assumed to be a Prothean.

Another Prothean suddenly materialized, it bowed then said "My lord we have just received word that the sea of night system has fallen."

A Prothean armoured in armour as black as night seemed to materialize standing to the left of the golden one. "What? But…but that is impossible that system was at the centre of the Acre Defence line. It isn't possible that it fell the ion cannon defence grid would crush any attempted Reaper advance."

"It…it appears that our own ground based defences started firing on the orbital platforms, the planets of the system stood no chance when the Reapers swarmed through the relay. The…the surviving fleet elements are reporting ninety percent casualties." The messenger replied, in response to this the gold armoured alien seemed to smash its fist onto an invisible table.

"Indoctrination damn these machines turning our own people against us…we must make sure the same doesn't happen here. I want word to be sent out that any refugee ships that approach the fortress planets will be destroyed. Now as to the imminent Reaper threat, they will no doubt come swarming through the relay we must prepare and look to our defences. I…I don't know whether we will be able to repel their advance but we shall make them spill blood for every system that they take"

Suddenly Shepard seemed to be transported to what looked like a ruined street in some war torn alien city. He saw Prothean soldiers as well as strange looking armoured vehicles firing upon an approaching swarm of cybernetic horrors and large four legged onyx walkers which fired crimson beams that sliced through buildings and Prothean alike. Every few seconds Shepard would see a dozen of the alien soldiers fall and the look of sheer hopelessness on their faces as what looked like a large burning alien warship fell from the sky sent shivers down Shepard's spine.

Shepard jolted awake and after a brief instant of wondering where in the bloody hell he was, he found he was sitting upright on one of the cots in the med bay of the Hastings. He cupped his hands to his face "what in God's name did I just see?" He asked aloud.

"I do not know commander what did you see?" Shepard jumped when he saw Doctor Charkwas approaching his cot.

He found that he was wearing a simple green marine shirt and what appeared to be the lower parts of his armour including his greaves and boots. He tried to stand and found out much to his annoyance that his vision was still swimming but he wasn't going to be defeated by dizziness, he had faced down a battalion of Batarian commandos and won to hell with dizziness, thus he soldiered on and managed to stand up although not without effort.

"Oh no commander, you stay down I still have a few tests I need to do."

In reply to Charkwas Shepard said "Doctor honestly I…I feel fine, I just feel bloody hungry also how long was I out this time?"

Charkwas sighed "very well commander if you feel you are fit enough then I cannot stop you but for God's sake stop passing out at the end of missions and in response to your question about seventeen hours."

Shepard smirked and said "honestly I'm fine, I can't promise anything however."

Charkwas smiled "go on get out of here."

Shepard returned the smile "thanks doctor hopefully I won't be back in here for a while." Thus Shepard slowly walked for the exit of the med bay and then it was onto the mess, he made it to the med bay doors and they slid open almost without a sound revealing the face of Daveth.

"Oh jolly good sir you're up I was just coming to see you" Daveth said smiling ear to ear.

Shepard chuckled and said "so why are you so happy today?"

Daveth laughed and said "it's just…I found out my sister and my nephew and two nieces made it off of Victoria IV, they are alright sir, I mean the kids are a bit traumatised from their escape but they are alight sir. Um forgive me sir I shouldn't have said anything."

Shepard chuckled and playfully punched Daveth in the arm. "Don't be an idiot, I like being friends with my subordinates, and I consider you a friend Daveth you can talk to me about anything hell if your pet iguana had just died I'd listen."

Daveth smirked "well funnily enough I was discussing past pets with Garrus earlier and I did have a pet iguana back when I was in secondary school called Rodney. God I loved that lizard."

Shepard rolled his eyes "trust you Daveth but anyway I'm starving want to come and grab some food with me?"

Daveth nodded "sure sir I'm hungry myself…oh I have a story to tell you though and it is much better than a dead iguana."

"What? There is something more exciting than a dead iguana? I didn't think that was possible." Shepard replied they were nearing the mess hall now, they just need to walk down to the end of this corridor and passed the recreational area of the Hasting, this area contained a small lounge with a snooker table as well as just being a general relaxation area, you needed places like that on long tours. In addition to that there was the workout room which had various gym equipment.

"Oh this is far better than an iguana. Ok so I was meant to be going to the workout room with Garrus and Alf, as Garrus had been boasting how he could take us both on in unarmed combat. Anyway Garrus was too busy chatting up Tali, and Alf had gotten into an intense debate with the New Zealanders down in the main battery over whether the English Rugby team was going to win the upcoming Imperial ruby cup. "

'Tali? Shepard couldn't remember quite who that was until it clicked into place she was that Quarian that had been on Feros. He decided it was best to let Daveth continue on with his story however as Rugby was a favourite sport of his, he had to comment.

"Pfft don't tell me the Kiwis think they can win this year? I mean the Captain of the English team is William Aldershot the man is a legend." In response to what Shepard said Daveth just rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled.

"I'm more of a cricket man myself sir."

"But Daveth…you're Welsh and I'm English and I like Rugby while you prefer cricket? Ha the irony, anyway carry on."

Daveth carried on with his story "so anyway I decided to head to the workout room by myself when who do you think I saw there?" In reply to Shepards questioning look Daveth decided to answer for him "Ashley and that Lucy women, they were both working out and just…it was a nice sight sir if you catch my drift."

"Wait Lucy is on the ship?"

Daveth sighed "yes she is now anyway the best part was well you know how we couldn't tell her gender under the bulky armour she was wearing earlier?" Shepard nodded he didn't really see where Daveth was going with this. "Well she appeared to be in some borrowed workout gear and let me tell you it was a brilliant sight…although I think Ashley was the better out of the two I don't know what do you think?"

Shepard sighed and rolled his eyes "Daveth just…you're acting like a horny teenager speaking of which how old are you by the way? I haven't really gotten a chance to check your file."

Daveth laughed "I'm twenty sir and I know how old you are sir, don't worry gramps your secret is safe with me."

"Daveth I am twenty five and a little bird tells me that a position for guarding sheep has just opened up on the Shetlands but seriously if I had been any other officer you would be in the brig most likely." Daveth laughed and they finally rounded the corner and entered the mess hall but both of them stopped dead in their tracks.

Lucy was standing in the mess halls small kitchen leaning on the counter talking to Ashley, and they were both still in their workout gear.

Daveth chuckled and nudged Shepard "what are you looking at commander?"

Shepard didn't reply for a minute but then he smiled and said "you bloody well know what, but come on I'm bloody starving." Shepard and Daveth started walking towards where Ashley and Lucy were as that is where the fridge's and the general kitchen area was. As they were walking over Shepard noticed that the mess hall was quite busy at the moment, in addition to him, Daveth, Ashley and Lucy there were about nine others sitting at the various tables in the mess or just standing and talking like Ashley and Lucy.

As they approached Ashley and Lucy, Ashley noticed them and broke off her conversation with Lucy to smile at Daveth and Shepard.

"Oh commander nice to see you're alright, you had us scared there for a second sir but hey, the good thing was it wasn't my fault you collapsed this time." Ashley said between drinking a bottle of water.

"Yeah but I really need to stop fainting at the end of missions, I'll tell you what though that Thorian thing was disgusting." Shepard replied to Ashley and to that the four of them nodded their heads in agreement.

Shepard used his biotics to open the fridge behind Ashley and took out a couple of cans of bully beef as well as a fork from a nearby draw. Ashley jumped when she saw the cans float past her head. "Damn skipper I thought there was a ghost in here for a second" Shepard chuckled in reply but his mood darkened considerably when he remembered how he had used to play pranks like that on Liz when they had first started seeing each other.

Shepard pushed that painful memory away and decided to ask something he really should have asked earlier "so…so what is going on than? Where are we heading now? Are we still in orbit over Feros?"

Lucy answered this as she brushed a lock of black hair that had fallen over her eye out of the way then she spoke. "No we aren't we left Feros, we are currently on our way to Earth."

Shepard almost spat out the bully beef he was chewing, once he had swallowed it down he asked "we are heading back to Earth, why?"

"We've been recalled by order of the Admiralty board" Ashley replied. Shepard found it very odd he was wondering why they had been recalled surely his work with group Sabre would be the priority?

"So is the rest of group Sabres being recalled as well?" Shepard asked.

Ashley shook her head and said "no only the Hastings, from what EDI said it appears they wish to speak to you about the Prothean beacons."

Shepard found that very odd "couldn't they have just asked about it over the com?"

Ashley shrugged "I think they want to talk to you in person, but I don't really know you would have to ask them for yourself."

"Hmm well this is the last thing I expected, also not to sound rude but why are Lucy and Tali here?" Shepard asked he didn't mean to offend but it was still strange.

Ashley chuckled just before she took another sip out of her bottle of water after that she spoke again "well one of the higher ranking members of the Admiralty has been in contact with the Americans supposedly, we have been ordered to bring them along."

Shepard found this all bloody odd "hey Lucy you wouldn't have any idea as to why we have been asked to bring you along? Or why your superiors would agree?"

Lucy smiled awkwardly and shrugged "I have no idea Commander, I'll be honest my head hasn't been all in order since the Feros." Lucy seemed to stare off into space for a second' Shepard could tell she was still feeling the after effects of Feros although her eyes only seemed to wander for a split second before she regained her composer.

Shepard finished the last bite of his bully beef leaving the can empty he was still hungry but the bully beef had filled him up surprisingly well, ah thank God for bully beef the back bone of the British military for four hundred years. He was the commanding officer, he should probably go and show his face on the bridge.

"Well I suppose it's time I go and check on Joker and EDI although EDI most likely recorded out entire conversation." Shepard bioticly threw his empty bully beef can into a rubbish bin at the side of one of the fridges. "Anyway I have to scarper."

Ashley nodded "ok commander, hey Daveth I challenge you to a fight in the workout room as I seem to recall you saying oh what was it now 'ha I could kick that girls arse any day of the week'." Shepard had to chuckle at Ashley impersonating Daveths Welsh accent.

"Oh God Ash that…that was terrible you have just butchered the Welsh accent so badly, Yr oedd hynny'n ofnadwy." Ashley not understanding the Welsh he had just spoken simply punched Daveth in the arm.

"Come on Welsh man you and me now in the workout room." Daveth smirked and winked at Ashley, she went bright red and punched him again.

Shepard used this distraction and turned to leave but he felt a hand grab his shoulder he turned around expecting Daveth asking to save him from Ashley but was surprised to see Lucy.

"Commander I hope you wouldn't mind it if I walked to the bridge with you?" Lucy asked, he was going to say no but she was giving him puppy dog eyes and was lightly biting the bottom of her lip.

Shepard mentally chuckled, she knew what she was doing, then he thought darkly, Liz used to do that. Shaking off his recurring memories Shepard replied "Yes fine sure, you can come with me come on lets go, I don't want to be here when Ashley beats the lights out of Daveth."

Lucy smiled and they started walking away from the bickering Ashley and Daveth. Lucy still hadn't said a word as they left the mess hall and were walking through the corridor that led to the stairs. "Commander I…I want to apologize for attacking you like I did back on Feros."

Shepard smiled "no problem, I don't even think your kick to the gut left a bruise so you're alright…and your biotics were no threat to me anyway." Shepard smirked as he said the last part she simply scoffed.

"You're an arrogant arse aren't you? My biotics are easily twice as powerful as yours."

Shepard looked at her again and he smiled "only been on a British ship a day and you've already started speaking like us."

Lucy's eyes seemed to go wide for a brief instant. "haha yeah well, I've spent time with Imperials before so I'm not stranger to the accent."

Shepard nodded, they had finally made it to the stairs that led to the CIC. "So Lucy on a serious note I just wanted to ask…how are you holding up? I mean on Feros you looked…bad. I mean I'm no stranger to losing men or hell even losing one's own squad. So I just wanted to let you know that you can talk to me if you need to."

Lucy smiled they had got to the top of the stairs now and were almost at the CIC. "Don't worry Shepard…this wasn't the first time I've lost men and it most likely won't be the last but…thanks for saying that it was sweet."

Shepard blushed slightly "ah no problem anyway what was that you were saying about biotics? Because if I recall you were saying they were twice as powerful as mine."

Lucy smiled as they got into the CIC proper she started to head towards the lift at the end of the CIC, Shepard watched her go as he did. Shepard could tell she defiantly knew what she was doing. She got into the lift then turned around and smirked, she activated her biotics and said "I would say three times as powerful actually, I'll talk to you later Shepard."

Shepard scoffed she simply winked at him then pressed a button on the lift and the doors slid shut. 'alright put your tongue back in your mouth Shepard' , He listened to his own advice and started towards the bridge. As he walked he noticed Fergus and another crewman arguing over a terminal that was one of dozens of terminals that ringed the area around the galaxy map.

Shepard deciding to investigate he walked up and stood behind the bickering crewman. He was about to make them aware of his presence when Fergus turned around and noticed him. Fergus face lit up with a glee that made Shepard slightly worried.

"Commander nice to see you are all right but thank God you are here." Fergus said although he had been born on New Albion according to his files Fergus sported quite a thick Scottish accent. "Alex (that's this bugger here) seems to think that the Japanese Lighting battle suit is better than the Saint George's Knight Class mech. I mean commander what he is saying is sheer Bollocks."

Before Shepard could reply Alex shouted "it's not stupid if it's true, the lighting is ten meters tall and sports duel plasma cannons as well as rapid fire pulse rifles."

Shepard was quite lost he didn't know enough about mech units to comment. Fergus replied to Alex by tapping the terminal screen which when Shepard looked contained an image that Shepard recognised as the seven meter tall Knight mech. "Bollocks, size isn't everything lad, the Knight is more manoeuvrable than the lighting so while the lighting has better firepower by the time it's taken aim the Knight won't even be there and least you forget the Knight is armed with the lance anti-armour laser that baby can cut through the barriers and armour of a main battle tank."

Shepard started to back away "I really don't know enough about mechs and the like lads and I'm needed on the bridge so…cheerio." With that Shepard left them to their argument. He finally made it to the bridge and stood behind Joker who was busy keeping an eye on the Hastings while it was traveling in FTL. "All right Joker, I heard we are heading back to Earth where did you get the order for that?"

Joker jumped slightly "ah commander didn't…ah didn't see you there well EDI told me, EDI! The commander wants to talk to you."

EDI's avatar materialized to the side of Shepard although this avatar had red hair. "Umm EDI what's up with the hair?" Shepard asked.

EDI smiled and replied "I was researching human sayings and I came across one that said 'variety was the spice of life' thus I decided it would be fitting to change my avatars appearance."

Shepard raised his eyebrow that was odd…well at least for EDI anyway. "EDI I want to ask, who has ordered us to return to Earth?"

EDI seemed to look strained for a second as if she was thinking, "after you were brought aboard unconscious, Admiral Roberts was contacted by one Lord Marquesse Andrew Hunt he is a high ranking member of the Admiralty board. He informed Roberts that he required our immediate return to Earth. It appeared that Lord Hunt was already aware of you gaining the cypher before any transmission was sent to him, although how that is possible I do not know."

Shepard had heard of Lord Hunt he had been a Lord Admiral in the war for Shanxi apparently he had been the one responsible for securing orbital domination over the Eastern side of the planet. After the war he had apparently taken radical turn when he joined the far right Terra Imperium party, which was a pan-national political organization which called for humanity to unite in the face of the threat the xenos posed. Shepard was surprised someone like that had made their way onto the Admiralty board.

"So EDI where on Earth exactly are we heading? If it's the Admiralty board I assume London?" Shepard asked but the avatar of EDI shook her head.

"We are to be landing at Broken hill Naval space port in New South Wales Australia, I was told that further orders would be given upon arrival." Shepard had heard of broken hill, he'd never been there as it was more of an army base rather than an Royal marine one, it was part of the HMB King Albert, Albert was essentially an area of New South Wales reserved for the military, the entire area was one massive training field, it was also where the annual Imperial army review was held.

"Well this should be interesting, hey how long until we arrive in SOL?"

Shepard asked, Joker seemed to read something on one of the many terminals and said "about…now." The colourful light that was FTL was replaced by the blue pearl that was Earth. Shepard smiled it looked beautiful the sun was just shining on Australia and the eastern side of the planet. Shepard couldn't see the British isles from the angle they were at but he could see the glow of lights in eastern Europe. Judging from the sun it was mid-morning in Aus.

As the Hastings moved towards Earth Shepard noticed they weren't the only ship in the sky, Earth was the centre of multiple galactic empires he could see dozens upon dozens of ships in the distance and quite close ones as well. As they hit the upper atmosphere He could see the splendour that was the orbital defence grid, the dozens of orbital platforms of various nations that made up the Earth defence grid, this defence system contained hundreds of orbital platforms from missile satellites to Ion cannons.

As they descended through the middle atmosphere the Hastings passed what appeared to be a dreadnaught of the second Reich. The thing was massive Shepard guessed that it was about two kilometres, and then he realized it must be the German super dreadnaught the SMS Kaiser Wilhelm IV, it appeared that this monster ship was holding orbit above German New Guinea. Shepard wasn't sure why they would deploy such a large ship here but then he remembered reading a paper a few days before his tour started about German-Japanese tensions over the disputed former Dutch possessions in the East Indies.

The monstrous German dreadnaught finally disappeared from Shepards view as they began their final decent into the atmosphere. Ten minutes later the Hastings was in view of the spaceport. Apart from the large bit of civilization surrounding the spaceport the only thing Shepard could see as far as the eye could see was outback.

Shepard was snapped out of his thoughts by what sounded like a female voice come over the com.

"This is flight lieutenant Lauren Xing, welcome to Broken hill Hastings will you please proceed to docking bay B eight. You will be met briefed on arrival lieutenant Xing out."

"Well Shepard I hope you like heat and lots of it God I can already see the heat rays waves from up here." Joker said sarcastically, Shepard had to chuckle he didn't like the heat either, and as he looked out the cockpits window at the approaching landing strip that the Hastings was hovering over he could already see the blurriness that represented heat waves on the runway. This section of the space port was reserved for light ships like frigates that could land under their own weight but anything larger had to have support from the dry dock.

"Eh I'm not into the heat but I suppose we have no choice I might walk around in my armour, at least that is air conditioned" Shepard said through a chuckle. Shepard finally felt the Hastings touch down on the ground and saw the jet bridge that would allow them to disembark being extended. "Well I suppose it's time, I need to go and get changed out the bottom portion of my armour first, cheerio Joker see you in a bit." And with that Shepard headed back to his cabin to quickly get changed into shorts, as he would need them in the boiling Aussie heat.

End of Chapter Nine (part:one).

The reason I split this into a two parter was I wanted to get something out tonight.

So thanks for reading and please review, cheerio.


	12. Chapter Nine: Aussie Blues part two

I do not own mass effect etc etc.

Also I would just like to thank MetallicManiac (aka hunter of Baskerville hounds ;) ) for his help cheers.

**Chapter Nine: Aussie Blues (Part Two).**

Shepard now wearing Khaki shorts, a green royal marine tank top and his boots, was now along with his squad and a large percentage of the other crew walking down the jet bridge that had docked with the Hastings. The jet bridge was boiling walking through it Shepard felt like he was walking through a hot water pipe he was already starting to sweat, it was made even worse by the fact he was having to carry his duffel bag as he really didn't feel like carrying anything in the heat.

As he made it to the end of the jet bridge the crew in groups of five had to walk through a decontamination chamber, the decontamination process stripped Shepard and the others free of alien bacteria, this process was essential as although most humans had had genetic therapy that prevented alien infection the wild life of Earth had not Thus to prevent an ecological collapse of the animal population it was essential that all off world visitors were decontaminated, for example it had been found that Turian bacteria was practically deadly to reptiles.

Once the decontamination process was complete Shepard stepped out into the spaceports terminal, he was surprised to find it quite deserted as the rows of seats in the centre of the large room stood empty there were only about a dozen people in sight and most of them appeared to be civilian base staff, he also noticed how the blazing Aussie sun was streaming in through the large skylights. On the ceiling of the large terminal they were in were three large screens facing the docking bays, they were obviously meant for new arrivals. On the screens were large white words that said 'welcome to Broken hill, largest military base in the Empire since 2057'. Behind the welcome message was a fluttering union flag, and Shepard could swear he heard Rule Britannia lightly emanating from the large screens.

Daveth had just got through the decontamination process along with, Ashley and Lucy and he came to stand besides Shepard.

"It's quite deserted isn't it sir? Aren't we supposed to be met by someone?"

Shepard was about to reply to Daveth's question when he saw that a young Indian women was approaching them.

Shepard turned to Daveth "well Daveth speak of the devil as it were" he turned back to face the woman a sub-leftenant going by the insignia on her blue Royal navy shirt.

The woman saluted "Leftenant commander Shepard, I'm sub-leftenant Samantha Traynor" she extended her hand.

Well that put paid to her being Indian she sounded posher than him, "Pleasure to meet you sub-leftenant, I assume you are the one that is to be giving us our orders?"

She smiled and nodded "No commander I've been asked to take you to see Admiral Shepard the one who will be giving you orders, a coach will take the rest of the Hastings crew to their barrack block G-23 for the duration of your time at Broken hill."

Shepard's eyes went wide "Wait my father? I mean is this Admiral William Shepard?"

She nodded "Yes Lion of Elysium it is your father." She smiled at Shepard but this made Shepard feel even more uneasy.

"Wait your fathers an Admiral?"

"Yes Daveth he is now come on let's get on with it."

Once the rest of the Hastings crew had all come through decontamination Traynor led the way, they walked to a set of large double doors at which opened onto the base proper. The Terminal was one of many and although this one was quite empty looking to either side he saw dozens of military vehicles that were either picking up or dropping off personal. The area in past the road was an open area it looked like a parade ground of sorts and beyond that were rows of buildings ranging from depots and barracks to office buildings. The base seemed to be swarming with activity there appeared to be a couple hundred soldiers marching on the parade ground and vehicles swarmed about on the roads as well as dozens of aircraft flying overhead.

"I've never seen so many people in one place before let alone soldiers, or ever been somewhere so hot before this is hotter than the engine room on the Rayya." Shepard heard Tali say.

Traynor chuckled "I believe that you two are the first aliens to lay eyes on Broken hill but anyway, if the crew of the Hastings will please board this coach it will take you to the barracks you will be staying in while you are here." In response to a few grumbles from the crew about being separated from Shepard Traynor sighed and said "don't worry the commander will be along soon."

The ground team said their good byes and began to walk away Shepard watched them go Lucy was the last to board the coach but just before she did however she turned around and waved goodbye to him. Their eyes locked for a brief second and she smiled at him before finally getting into the waiting Daimler coach these large transports could easily carry the crew of the Hastings twice over. Once the crew had boarded the coach it began to drive off leaving Traynor and Shepard.

"Sub-leftenant what are we waiting for exactly?" Asked Traynor, she turned around and wiped her brow with a handkerchief she produced from her pocket before answering.

"Well we are supposed to be…is that…yeah our transport is here" Traynor said while holding a hand up to shield her eyes from the overhead sun. Shepard looked where she was staring and saw a Vickers Dingo four wheel drive jeep approaching. Shepard liked the Dingo it was a nice reliable vehicle, they could hold five people including the driver and the gunner although these ones appeared to be lacking a gun mount.

The Dingo's pulled up right next to Shepard parking just on the curb, Traynor walked up to the lead army sand coloured vehicle and opened the door. "Come on we don't want to keep the Admiral waiting sir" Traynor nodded to the driver and got into the shotgun seat of the Dingo, Shepard wanted to keep him waiting he didn't even want to see him.

Shepard headed for the lead vehicle and got in taking a window seat in the back of the vehicle. Once they had strapped in the dingo started up and started moving, it took them around twenty minutes to get out of the terminal area of the space port as it was so busy. "Sorry about the wait commander it's been really hectic around here for the past couple of days we are bringing ourselves up to full mobilization, which is in compliance with Royal order XII. Most of these lads you see boarding the transports here are going to be flung against the Geth forces on Victorian IV"

"Speaking of Victorian IV and Maria, how goes the fight there? I haven't really gotten a chance to catch up on current events" Shepard said, Traynor leaned around in her seat and passed him a scroll device with a report on the situation in the besieged colonies.

"We have almost achived orbital dominance over Victoria IV and although the front lines are currently in a stalemate once we achieve orbital control it's only a matter of time before the Geth fall but it's odd the Geth seem to be pulling their forces out of the system."

The Dingo seemed to Jump as it hit a bump in the road and Traynor almost hit her head on the ceiling, "sorry ma 'arm but you should really wear a seatbelt" the driver a fusilier by the look of his beret said.

Traynor grumbled "anyway as for Maria our drone scouts show thT the planet seems completely deserted with no signs of Geth or human or even any battle damage it's as if they just disappeared. We aren't telling the civilian population this but we think…we think the Geth are taking the civilians rather than killing them and if the 'dragons teeth' as we're now calling them are used for what we think they are we don't want the general public or the average Tommie getting wind of this. We have had multiple engagement with these 'husks' as the soldiers have taken to calling them, and we don't want soldiers knowing these were former humans, as this could cause tremendous… problems if our men find our they have been shooting at former civvies, we've been passing them off as Geth genetic experiments. In there is a video at the bottom of that report, watch it."

Shepard did as she suggested and clicked play on the video, the vid was obviously shot from a helmet cam perspective as it seemed somebody was peeking over the top of a pile of rubble. The video showed what looked like a Saint Georges class Knight standing in a pile of rubble in front of a ruined Church. The seven meter tall mech was thrashing about and conventional mass effect slugs as well as laser fire from nearby British forces was peppering it, he was puzzled as to why the British forces would be firing on their own units then as the video came into focus Shepard saw why. Dozens of husks were clawing all over the mechs hull trying to claw their way inside and the pilot was desperately trying to shake them off. The sound of gunfire coming from the video intensified and the camera man looked to the right and Shepard saw dozens of soldiers and a heavy Crusader tank coming down the ruined street crushing rubble, ruined automobiles and even husks under its treads.

The Tank finally got close to the thrashing mech and it seemed to stay still for a second, the husks seemed to relent their assault and look to the tank as its main gun was pointed at the mech. Suddenly a brilliant torrent of orange flames shot out from the tank bathing the mech in flames, the mech was doused in fire and even from the bad video quality Shepard could hear the moaning from the burning husk's the camera rapidly panned to the left and showed a horde of Geth running through a ruined building towards the camera, a couple of soldiers near the camera started firing at the oncoming horde but they were swiftly overwhelmed and the last frame before the camera went dead was a close up of a husks face.

"Oh God that's ghastly they are turning our own population against us!" Shepard said slightly horrified sure he had encountered these things on Eden prime but not in these numbers..

Traynor nodded "that video was shot in Port Wilson a city on the southern continent of Victoria IV and that is what our lads on the ground are dealing with."

"Damn those bloody Geth bastards, how are the Yanks and Russians coping with the Geth onslaught?" Shepard asked.

Traynor turned back to face the road they were just passing what looked like a tank depot as dozens of tanks were lined up with dozens of mechanics working on various tanks. She turned back to face Shepard "The American seventh fleet has knocked the Geth out of the Jefferson system and the Geth on the ground have all been but annihilated, Jefferson unlike Victoria IV and Maria is a heavily militarised world the Seventh and Eight fleets were based there, as It is a very resource rich planet there are a lot of eezo mining operations, a large proportion of the Americans military's biotics also originate from there."

"What about the Tsars forces?"

"The Russians well funnily enough even though they are facing the brunt of the Geth assault they are holding them, they appear to have finally achieved a stable front. The most amazing part however is that the Japanese have sent military aid to the Russians, you see Port Fredrick Is near a Japanese system and if Fredrick falls then the Japanese will be threatened, last I heard they have deployed troops and a fleet to support the Russians, I find that quite funny considering their history." Traynor replied to Shepard.

"What about the rest of Earth what are they doing in response to the Geth attack?" Shepard asked he knew this war had now dragged in the Japanese but he was wondering what the other nations were doing in response to the Geth.

"Well the French are reinforcing their border colonies and have moved up extra troops the Reich, Chinese and the Iberian empire as well as the Dutch and Italians are generally just reinforcing their colonies and digging in they have shown no signs of intervening as of yet." Tarynor replied.

Shepard looked out of the dingo's windscreen and saw they were approaching a large white multi-storey building that was in the neoclassical style of architecture that was facing a revival of sorts at the moment. On the opposite side of the road a column of large armoured vehicles drove by, they shook the ground as they passed.

They pulled up outside the front of the large building "okay we're here." Traynor said as she jumped out of the dingo Shepard followed suite

He turned around to face the building he saw it in more detail than he had in the dingo, there were two large flagpoles on either side of the entrance, the one on the left held the Imperial banner of the Union flag while the other held the White ensign both were fluttering lightly in the breeze. There was also a large statue of what looked like a nineteenth century naval officer.

Once all the squad has disembarked from the dingo's they promptly sped off leaving the group in front of the building, there were what looked like naval officers walking to and fro near the building and coming out and going into it.

"Okay if you would follow me I shall lead you to the Admiral." As they walked through the entrance that led in to the building they walked into what looked like some sort of lobby with multiple rows of chairs as well as several large classical style statues and a receptionist sitting behind a large circular desk at the back but to the either side of the desk there were staircases that led up to the second floor. The lobby was quite busy there were quite few naval officers and ensigns sitting and chatting as well as walking around. Shepard had to admit he was more into the neo-gothic architecture you would see in places like London.

Traynor nodded at the receptionist a petite ginger woman who returned the nod as they started walking up the left staircase. As they got to the top of the staircase Shepard saw the two Royal Marines armoured in Cymru pattern heavy armour, the armour was quite intimidating as the heavy plating made the person inside seem three times as bulky and their helmets only had narrow eye slits which blue light seemed to glow out of.

The marine's saluted Shepard and Shepard simply smiled and returned the salute.

Tranyor walked slightly ahead of him "his office is just at the end of this corridor sir."

As Shepard continued following Traynor he couldn't help but admire the paintings on the wall, most of them depicted historic naval victories there was one of Nelson at the Nile and another of the Spanish armada burning as well as more recent events a painting of a Raj class dreadnaught firing a broadside during the retaking of Shanxi for example.

Just before they got to their destination Shepard saw the almost standard (in any Royal Navy facility) large oil painting of Lord Horatio Nelson hanging on the wall. Almost four hundred years after his death Nelson was an almost mythical figure to the Royal navy and the empire at large, Nelson was now the same calibre as King Arthur or Saint George to be honest Shepard did sometimes feel a little uncomfortable as to the hero worship surrounding him.

Just as they were nearing the wooden door that would lead to the admiral's office a hologram of a Knight in black armour holding a sword and shield and wearing a tabard that contained the Plantagenet coat of arms materialized in front of the door, Shepard recognized it as an AI avatar.

"None shall pass" The knight said in a booming voice.

Traynor rolled her eyes "Edward we are here to see Admiral Shepard he sent for us."

The Knights hologram seemed to flash for a brief instant, "indeed so he did, come on inside." The knight looked directly at Shepard "and may I say it tis a pleasure to meet my lords son." With that the hologram disappeared and the door he had been standing in front of slid to the side with a hiss.

"Why was the AI talking in old English?" Shepard quietly asked Traynor.

"It's your father personal AI, he had him programmed to act like that" Traynor replied in a whisper, Shepard couldn't say he wasn't surprised; his father had always been fascinated by medieval history.

Traynor was the first in followed by Shepard, the room was quite large and there was an oak desk with what appeared to be a small terminal and various paper books on it at the back of the room, this room was lot different to the rest of the building there were appeared to be Victorian style rugs covering the large space between the door and the desk as well as oil paintings depicting various medieval battles adorning the walls.

At the back of the room behind an oak desk a man around Shepard's height stood with his back to the door he was watching a holoscreen on the back wall that was currently showing what appeared to be a news channel broadcasting footage of what looked like a dozen Saint George Knight mechs* charging against Geth walkers in what appeared to be a square in a ruined city.

The knight hologram materialized again just to the left of the desk "my lord your son and his squad are here" once it had spoken it promptly disappeared again.

The Admiral switched off the holoscreen just as a Knight mech launched a barrage of missiles from its shoulder mounted missile pods at an Geth drop ship. As his father turned around Shepard saw that he had been smoking a pipe, his father hadn't really changed since the last time he had seen him, he still had the moustache he was so fond of. He was wearing a black admiral's uniform complete with golden epaulettes although how he was wearing black in this heat Shepard hadn't the foggiest.

The Admiral took the pipe out of his mouth then grabbed an ornate looking ivory case from his desk in which he then placed the pipe and then sat down in the chair behind the desk, Shepard gently put his duffel bag onto the floor.

"John" The Admiral nodded curtly at him and Shepard returned it in kind. "Congratulations are in order Commander for a successful mission, ghastly business that Thorian, anyway I asked you here to give you your briefing for your posting to Broken hill."

Shepard locked eyes with his father for the briefest moment and then broke eye contact. "It's Friday today so in three days' time on Monday morning, you shall be meeting with the Admiralty board in Melbourne at the Royal Naval College on French Island, I have had transport arranged for you, a Robin transport will fly you down there. I will warn you they will most likely grill you about the visions you have received from the Prothean beacon. Now as for the three days until then you are essentially on leave, most of the off duty soldiers and officers will be celebrating Empire day and as you know this usually entitles a lot of drinking and such, but I have issued warnings that any soldier who is arrested for being drunk and disorderly shall be flogged so please refrain from too much alcohol consumption."

The Admiral paused and seemed to look at his terminal for a minute before continuing "I have received orders to tell you that that Yank you picked up on Feros is also to come to the admiralty hearing, seems a bit fishy that the Americans would let us keep one of their agents, although according to this message from the ambassador to the US they have agreed to us questioning her. Now that is most odd."

His Father paused for a moment before continuing "One more thing as well on Sunday you and your squad shall be taking part in a war game with a newly raised infantry regiment. it's an Indian Princely regiment and their commander is a son of a maharaja*, their regiment has been dubbed the Royal Bengal Guards, they're not the best shots or the best fighters but they are furiously loyal and would most likely charge into hell if you asked them. You have to admire the Raj sprit and with time they can be brought up to standard in fighting ability."

His Father paused then said in a commanding voice "sub-leftenant Traynor please leave the room I wish to speak to my son in private."

That didn't sound good Shepard thought to himself, Traynor saluted and walked out of the room leaving Shepard and his Father alone.

His father sighed and rubbed his temples "We haven't spoken properly for about two and a half years now."

Shepard chuckled "and you're surprised? I mean first you were disappointed in me for my relationship with Li…Elizabeth, and then you were angry at me for joining the marines."

His father sighed "I just felt you could do better I mean the woman wasn't even a biotic*, and she talked you into the marines I knew you were originally going to join the navy just like generations of our family has before you, but then she convinced you to join the marines, and you like a fool followed with a wagging tail."

Shepard clenched his fists "I never wanted to join the navy it was you who wanted me to join, I never did. Elizabeth never conceived me to join either if anything she followed me into the forces." Shepard looked to the floor breaking eye contact with his father "if anything it's my fault she's dead now and the real reason I stopped talking to you was because when I told you she had died you seemed pleased."

His father seemed taken aback "My words may have been rash, I didn't wish death on the poor girl no matter how much I thought you could do better, what kind of rapscallion do you take me for?" His Father sighed deeply "I was even starting to take a liking to her she may have been working class but she carried herself better than some of the noble's I have known in my time. If I gave you that impression I'm…I'm sorry, I saw how much her loss and that whole unpleasant business on Elysium affected you and still is affecting you. But I apologize again if I gave off the impression of being happy at her death, I assure you I was not."

Shepard thought to himself had his father just apologized to him? His father was a very proud man and apologizing must have taken a lot of effort on his part to apologize Shepard looked up and locked eyes with his father grey and green eyes, unspoken words passed between them.

His father stood up and walked to stand just in front of him Shepard, His father offered him a firm handshake and he patted Shepard on the shoulder. It was quite odd his father never showed emotion like this. It was only brief and his father stood back once he had finished "I'm an Englishman not a frog so don't go getting used to that."

Shepard had to chuckle "Yes I had thought you had gone mad for a split second there" Shepard replied.

His father smiled "yeah it's the damn heat, but alas I must be getting back to work and you should be getting back to your duty." His father saluted him and Shepard returned it in kind. Shepard picked up his duffel bag from the floor and started towards the door but just as he was about to step back into the corridor he heard his father say.

"Watch yourself son, this business with the Admiralty, seems fishy almost as if someone is moving things behind the scenes, stay safe and farewell." Shepard turned around and nodded before finally stepping out back into the corridor.

"So did it go well sir?" Shepard looked to the side and saw Traynor admiring a painting of a nineteenth century ship of the line.

He smiled "yeah it went quite well actually, now how do I get to the barracks that my crew are stationed in?"

Traynor smiled "follow me sir transport is waiting outside" and with that Shepard began following Traynor once more, as they were walking down the corridor they passed a short Indian woman carrying a tray of tea to his father.

It was about a fifteen minute ride through the massive base until they reached barracks block G-23 one of thrity blocks in the G section. The barracks Traynor had explained had been selected for the Hastings crew because the unit that had been living there had been a part of the Royal Newfoundland Lancers, and they had recently shipped out leaving the barracks block abandoned. There were four buildings in a large square that made up block G-23, the four buildings were living quarters, the mess hall for the whole G area was further up the road, and in the middle of the four building was a large open area that Shepard assumed was for soldiers when they were off duty to relax in.

Traynor dropped him off in front of the one of the living quarter's buildings; she said that she would get in touch with on Sunday for the war games exercise. As Shepard still carrying his duffel bag headed to the main doors of the building he heard shouts coming from behind the building. Deciding to investigate he walked off the concrete path and behind the building and was surprised to see what looked like a cricket match taking place.

Although he had to put a hand over his mouth to try and stop himself from laughing, the sight he beheld however was just too amusing and he started laughing. The sight in question was an awkward looking Garrus standing in front of a wicket and he appeared to be holding a cricket bat the wrong way around with the flat surface facing away from the bowler who in this case appeared to be Daveth. While Daveth was bowler and Garrus seemed to be the main bat's man, Ashley with her hair now tyed back into a pony tail was standing next to Daveth she seemed to look slightly confused however.

Shepard started walking towards the centre of the small field and he noticed that the majority of the squad were just sitting around lazily, as he got closer he noticed that Alf and Fergus standing in the shade cast by one of the buildings and seemed to be engaged in a debate about something or other. Lucy was sat down and appeared to be reading a book she had sun glasses on that prevented him from seeing her eyes but the shorts and tank top she had on exposed a lot of skin that would no doubt give some of the older conservatives a heart attack. Tali was sat next to Lucy and was watching Garrus and Daveth with fascination.

Shepard came to stand behind Lucy and she looked up as he cast a shadow over her. "Oh hello commander how did the meeting with the admiral go?"

Shepard dropped his duffel bag to the ground and sat down next to Lucy before he replied "It went…swimmingly, I along with you have been ordered to meet with the admiralty board in the Royal Naval College on French island this coming Monday."

Lucy seemed taken aback "what? But why would Ce-Command send me to the admiralty board?"

Shepard had caught the change of words there but decided to ignore it, he simply shrugged although Lucy seemed to become deeply troubled. He looked at the cricket game and saw that Daveth was getting ready to bowel. Garrus seemed a bit unsure of himself but at least he appeared to now be holding the bat the right way.

"So what did I miss exactly? Oh and by the way, where is Kaidan?" Shepard asked Lucy and Tali.

"Nothing much, Kaidan was taken by Doctor Charkwas to the nearest medical station, he said the heat was making his migraines worse" Lucy replied.

Shepard sighed he liked Kaidan but if the biotic implants he had continued to be a problem… well he would most likely have to ask that he be transferred off the ship.

Tali leaned forward and looked at Shepard "and the rest of the crew headed to the grav trains that would take them into the cities around here but we decided to wait for you, they said something about celebrating umpire something."

"Empire day Tali, it's a patriotic holiday where we basically celebrate the Empire and Imperial spirit", Shepard corrected her.

Tali seemed to smile under the helmet she wore "yes that was it sorry, and as to this" she pointed her three fingered hand towards the cricket game. "Well Daveth managed to get into an argument about Turian sport vs Human sport and Garrus as he usually does bragged he would be able to beat Daveth in any sport so Daveth challenged him to what you humans call cricket. As you can see Daveth also managed to drag Ashley into it as well. Thus that is why you currently see Garrus looking like a fool holding that bat, although I have to ask what possessed you to name a sport after a small bug?"

Shepard and Lucy just chuckled in response to Tali, Shepard looked back to the cricket game and he managed to catch the eye of Daveth who was getting ready to bowel. Daveth smiled and gave Shepard a thumbs up, Shepard replied in kind. Now that Daveth was wearing a short sleeved khaki top Shepard noticed that on Daveth's forearm there was a tattoo of a Welsh dragoon with the words 'Cymru' underneath it.

Garrus seemed to get ready as he held the bat tighter "come on human give me all you've got."

Daveth chuckled "oh you are going to regret saying that, I was the best bowler in all of South Wales, so prepare yourself Garrus" and with that Daveth threw the red cricket ball.

The ball cut through the air at tremendous speed and Shepard was sure that it was going to hit the wicket knocking Garrus out, but by some miracle Garrus managed to hit it. The ball went flying to the side and straight towards Lucy's face.

Shepard almost instinctively activated his biotics and a purple aura engulfed the ball, the ball stopped a mere inch from Lucy's forehead. Lucy's eyes went wide but this look of surprise quickly turned to one of anger as she activated her own biotics and used a push on Garrus that sent him sprawling to the ground. Daveth started laughing uncontrollably at Garrus when he two was flung to the floor, Garrus still lying on the ground had a good chuckle of his own at Daveth.

Lucy turned to Shepard and her look of anger almost instantly warped into a pleasant smile.

"Thank you Shepard" Lucy continued smiling sweetly as she placed a hand on his thigh for a brief instant, she then quickly removed it.

"Are human females always like this?" Tali asked as she shimmied away from Lucy.

Daveth now having picked himself up from the floor with the help of Ashley chuckled and said, "only when it's their time of t-"

He was cut off as Lucy bioticly pushed him, this sent him flying a good three meters and he finally landed on his arse.

"Ow hey Ashley a little help?" Daveth asked extending his hand to her, she simply shook her head.

"No you deserved that one Daveth."

"Menywod blydi" Daveth said in his native Welsh, since Daveth currently wasn't wearing a translator device nobody knew what he had said, although Ashley just fixed him with a glare as he picked himself up from the floor.

"Anyway…I'm bloody peckish and this sun is making me thirsty, would anyone like to come to the mess hall to grab a bite to eat and drink?" Shepard asked.

Everyone agreed and thus they headed they started walking to the mess hall which was about a five minute walk away, Shepard was looking forward to tomorrow Empire day was always fun.

End of chapter nine.

Next chapter Admiralty and Empire.

Please review and pray tell me what thou think.

Codex Entry: Mechanized battle suits.

Mechanized battle suits commonly referred to in the anglo-sphere as Knights or mechs, are armed and armoured bipedal vehicles. They range in size from five meters tall to ten meters tall and are able to be equipped with various weaponry ranging from laser cannons to plasma weapons and missiles and many more.

The origin of the modern day mech is disputed although the British armoured crops were the first to deploy what were essentially walking tanks against rebels in Borneo and Malaya in the 1930's, the origin of the modern day battle suit is more disputed.

The two countries that claim they were the first to create the battle suit (or Metall-Männer in the Reich) are the Greater German Reich, where it was claimed the first mech was created to fight Austrian rebels in the mountains of Austria. The other nation is the Empire of Japan where they were created at roughly the same time to fight the Dutch in what became known as the jungle wars. These were a series of wars where the Japanese in the 1950's stripped the Dutch of their Asian colonies over in a series of wars fought across Dutch Indonesia. As the Japanese couldn't give their troops heavy fire support on the narrow jungle roads and in the jungle itself the Japanese looked to what the British had two decades earlier.

Although we may never know who is credited with the actual concept we know what the results were, although initially used very rarely and in small numbers when humanity started fighting wars on the planets of the solar system mechs were deployed in ever large numbers to support infantry in the rocky crates of Luna and the dusty mountains and valleys of Mars as well as the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Some even suggested they would replace tanks by 2100 although this has not been the case the traditional tank still has a place on the battlefield as while mechs are effective in urban combat and other hard terrain they are hopelessly outmatched by tanks on open fields and the weapons mechs carry do not pack the same punch as traditional armour.

Codex Entry: Biotics in the British Empire.

Biotics first started appearing on the planet in the early 1900's, as a result of scientists discovering that the Martian cylinders that crashed to Earth contained an previously unknown element which the scientists of the recovery period dubbed element zero or eezo in slang terms.

The Scientists of the early Georgian period found out that this eezo had been used by the Martians to slow their descent into the Earth's atmosphere and could if treated probably be used for antigravity purposes.

As eezo usage became more common in day to day life after the discovery of vast deposits of eezo in the Australian outback, Siberian and Arizona as well as smaller deposits under the Brazilian rainforest, what was then Persia (now part of the British and Russian Empires) as well as small deposits in the former Belgian now Dutch congo.

After spates of death of mines and engineers as well as scientists showed that contact with eezo in the stage between digging it out of the ground and treating it for useposed serious risks of cancer there was a brief panic but alas at this point in the early 1920's Eezo was too much a part of the global economy to simply abandon it now and thus the use of it persisted.

However in the mid 1920's something strange started happening reports came from eezo mining regions that children were being born with divine gifts (although in South American and across parts of Europe's colonies in Africa as well as the middle east biotics were accused of Satanism).

Years passed and biotics were treated with suspicion and distain with many turning to a life of crime or being sent into the military. It wasn't until around 1970 during the full swing of the rapid colonization rush of the solar system that it was show that the heir apparent to the Imperial throne Prince Joshua was shown to be a biotic. Doctors theorized that during his mother's time spent in the royal auxiliary women's navy she must have come into contact with eezo.

The Empire was stunned the first biotic Royal, however suspiciously at around this time numerous articles appeared in newspapers supporting biotics. It wasn't just newspapers film, television and radio all started running pro biotic pieces. At this time films like the tale of captain biotic and the hugely popular television series like Empire on the red planet were released highlighting biotics contribution to the Empire.

After the new kings coronation and the large amount of pro biotic propaganda, biotics in the Empire became more accepted it got to the point that at the dawn of the 21st century families would try and marry biotic children to one another so that biotics would be kept in the family line, this is especially prevalent among noble and upper class family's', this was all based off the fascination with Darwin's work of natural selection and the attitude that the strongest thrived.

Humans are the species with the most biotics second only to the Asari in numbers. There is a dark sides to the Empires biotics policy, if a child is biotic and is born into an unacceptable family they are taken away to be trained in this way for the most parts it prevents biotics criminals, although there are special squads of police forces around the Empire that deal with biotic criminals, and most of the time if they are caught for a minor infraction like stealing they are given the option of prison or military service (if the crime is great however for example murder then they are hanged).

I was going to do a 'governance of the British Raj' codex entry but I believe that shall wait until either next chapter or until I do the codex for the history of this universe I have created.

Thanks for reading cheers.


	13. Chapter Ten

Changed chapter title as I felt the original wasn't appropriate.

**Chapter Ten:**** The second circle and the Demon****.**

"That thing is massive what is it? I've never seen anything like it!"

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle at the way that Tali was acting in response to the Indian Elephant that was currently being lead through the throngs of people by a handler, said Elephant was slowly making its way down the road (which had been closed off to traffic).

The Hastings ground team including Tali and Lucy had come down to Melbourne via the train that ran between Broken hill and Melbourne for the civilian base personal. They had been in the city for since 1:00 pm it was now 10:00 pm, and in that time they had been around the city and watched the parades that always took place on Empire day. This year's was quite impressive as he counted at least forty tanks and thousands of infantry marching down Melbourne's Andrew Scarlet Avenue.

The sun had now set and the crowds were still as strong as ever as the city was now illuminated by the glow of manmade lights, and the shining skyscrapers which were now aglow with lights towered high into the sky.

Shepard, Fergus, Alf, Kaiden as well as Garrus and Tali were waiting outside a large clothing store, they were waiting for Lucy, Ashley and Daveth. The reason they were in there was that they planned to go to some night clubs later to relax but Lucy had nothing but the clothes she had been wearing when they had found her on Feros.

Shepard was broken out of his thoughts by Tali, she walked up to Shepard "Shepard what are those things called?"

Shepard looked over to where she was pointing and saw a large holoscreen that was attached to a building. The screen was currently showing a propaganda film of what looked like Saint George and Beowulf class mechs cutting down Geth troopers with heavy weapons fire, the whole thing was played to the tune of what sounded like some patriotic music. The entire city was awash with Imperial propaganda and even though that was what Empire day was about to an extent, this year the propaganda had been double strength with television, books and film promoting pride in the Empire.

"I assume you mean the Knights? Well they are mechanized battle suits kind of like a walking tank I suppose." Shepard said, Tali seemed to be beaming under her helmet. That was another thing Shepard had noticed the looks Tali and Garrus had been getting from the public, they had even been stopped by police and military units around five times. Shepard managed to set said police straight when he mentioned his rank and name. He couldn't blame people though, even though three hundred years had passed since the Martian invasion the suspicion of aliens was ingrained in the human psyche. The Turians were still viewed suspiciously but no more than any other human nation.

"You see I didn't really learn much about humans, the only thing part of humanity you heard about a lot was your victory over the Turians, the marines always talk fondly about that. I most certainly never thought I would be standing here on Earth, birthplace of man but anyway those mechs look amazing. Human tech is really fascinating to me, I mean your Alcubierre drive is just amazing what Xen wouldn't give to see that and the wa…"

Shepard just smiled and nodded he looked over to Garrus and gave him a look that said help to try and get him to steer Tali away from going into a speech about tech.

"Say err Tali do you want to go and see that…Elephant up close?" Garrus asked, Tali nodded her head eagerly and walked off with Garrus towards the Elephant.

Shepard sighed he liked Tali but her childish enthusiasm was a bit too much for him he looked to his left and decided to strike up a conversation with Fergus, Alf and Kaidan, as he joined them he could hear what sounded like distant fireworks.

"So you guys looking forward to the night club we're going to? It's the biggest in Melbourne from what Daveth tells me, it's one of those new Asari inspired ones."

Fergus and Alf replied with a nod and a smile while Kaidan looked uneasy. "Actually commander I'm thinking of taking the train back to Broken hill, clubs…aren't really my thing."

Shepard rolled his eyes "oh come on mate it will be nice to just have a drink and relax and hell we haven't been drinking with Garrus, Tali or Lucy yet."

Kaidan sighed "yeah I guess you're right commander it will be good to socialize."

Fergus threw an arm around Kaidan's neck "that's the sprit mate, a bit of drink will do you good." Fergus quickly realizing that Kaidan was a superior officer quickly withdrew his arm. "Oh um sorry sir won't happen again sir."

Kaidan smiled and waved it off, Shepard chuckled then said "so anybody here (apart from Alf) Rugby fans? What do you think England's chances of winning the Imperial cup are this year?"

Kaidan laughed "You're going up against the Canadian teams in the semi's they will beat you easily."

Shepard and Alf scoffed "you are deluding yourself sir the Canadians got that far by sheer luck, I think the real opponent here are the New Zealanders" Alf said.

Shepard was about to speak as well when he was tapped on the shoulder, as he turned around he was greeted with the grinning face of Daveth.

"Hey Shepard Ashley and Lucy are coming out now just a heads up." Shepard was confused as to why he would need a heads up but when he saw Lucy and Ashley walking out of the shop he could see why. Lucy was wearing a tightfitting red dress that seemed to stop at the upper thigh as well as her arms and back being bare, Ashley was in a similar sort of silver coloured outfit but was showing less flesh than Lucy.

Lucy smiled sweetly "what do you think Shepard, not to revealing is it?"

'Oh it most certainly is bloody hell', "no of course not you look brilliant, what's in that bag you're holding?"

Lucy smiled "oh this? This is just normal clothes for when we're not fighting alien robots, I mean I can't go walking about the ship in just that one set of clothes that I was wearing under my armour or this." She gestured down to her dress, to Shepard's credit he managed to keep his gaze directed at eye level.

He heard Alf and Fergus chuckling behind him deciding to ignore it he turned to Daveth, "so what's the name of this place we're going?"

Daveth smirked "it's called the Second circle, quite a nice place really."

Shepard looked sceptical and Lucy said "so the clubs owners named it after the circle of lust in the divine comedy?"

Daveth seemed lost for words while Shepard was impressed, very few people these days knew about works like the divine comedy, he had read a copy from his father's study when he was younger.

"The divine what? But anyway where have Tali and Garrus buggered off to?"

Shepard pointed over to the elephant in response to Daveth's question, Daveth stood on his tip toes to see over the heads of the crowds of people walking past.

"Oi Vakarian! Get a bloody move on we're going now", Daveth shouted over to Garrus and Tali. Garrus gave Daveth a thumbs up and started walking over to them.

"Wow we have no creatures that big on the flotilla it was massive" Shepard chuckled in reply to Tali's statement.

"Come on let's get this show on the road as they say, Daveth lead the way."

Daveth nodded at Shepard and the group started on their way to the second circle.

"Well this seems…out of place" Shepard had to agree with Alf, the building was awash with pink and orange neon lights and the rest of it seemed to be made out of a sleek black material, it was in complete contrast to the neo-gothic and neo-classical structure's around it.

Night Clubs were still a bit of a taboo in British culture as the media portrayed them as dens of immoral activity which to a certain extent they were, nightclubs were only a recent thing after all, the idea having been taken from the Citadel species especially the Asari. They had recently exploded in popularity and dozens had opened in the major cities of Earth and other large colonies. Shepard remembered reading a story in the paper back in London about the amount of drunks that had been pouring out of clubs and causing havoc on the streets, although this kind of behaviour for the most part was crushed when Parliament initiated the laws for protection of public wellbeing and order, the police service cracked down hard after that.

The front of the club was packed with there being dozens of people waiting in line as well as people walking in and out. As they crossed the road and approached the club Shepard could hear the music emanating from inside and the orange and pink glow cast on the pavement below, the lights gave an other worldly feel to the area. As he looked more closely there was a large sign on the side of the club that seemed to depict what appeared to be a woman clad in revealing clothing and with what appeared to be red skin and horns as well as a devils tail curling about her left leg, he supposed it was a reference to the clubs namesake.

They were approaching the front of the club and the four large bouncers standing in front of the doors.

"Ok Daveth, are you sure military personal get in free?"

Daveth smiled and replied to Shepard "I am sure". They walked up to the entrance and two of the bouncers swiftly stood in front of them blocking their path.

"If you aren't on the list and Arnold here says you ain't" one of the bouncers said as he gestured to what appeared to be a little hovering drone that beeped as people went into and out of the club.

"What? But last time I was here you let in soldiers for free why has that changed?"

The bouncer sighed in response to Daveth's query, "well what changed is that we were ordered by the Melbourne's county council that we were to stop letting in soldiers as they kept returning drunk to duty and getting flogged."

"What that's…damn but how about if he is a military hero? The Lion of Elysium is right here in the flesh. John Shepard see."

The bouncer seemed to turn his gaze to Shepard and his eyes went wide, "pleasure to meet you sir, I was on Elysium myself, nowhere near the capital city but I was in the outlying town my unit was the one that managed to stop the Batarian forces from flooding over the Alba bridge."

Shepard smiled darkly "you were well what unit were you in mate?"

"The New South Wales Dragoons it was an armoured regiment, of course we were just as exposed to the Batarian's as you marines were, half of our tanks were destroyed by Batarian orbital fire in the opening minutes."

Shepard frowned as memories from that day returned the burning city the crash of distant artillery fire and Liz. No he wouldn't dwell on that, he was here to have a good time. "The Dragoons you guys were taken just as much by surprise as we were then?"

The bouncer nodded then he looked back into the club the neon pink lights reflecting off of his sweaty face. "Tell you what mate seeing as we are both veterans of Elysium go right on in even your mates can go in as well." The bouncer leaned in and whispered in Shepards ear "there is a purple headed Afrikaans girl working the bar, she's my girlfriend tell her the phrase 'koninklike behandeling' and she'll give you a free drink of your choice."

Shepard tired saying the phrase a few times in his head and once he was sure he remembered it he smiled and thanked the bouncer who stepped to the side to allow Shepards group into the club.

"Well we were bloody lucky that guy fought on Elysium" Fergus said although Shepard only just made out what he said as the sound of the music had increased tenfold as they entered the club.

They were walking down a crowed corridor towards a set of double doors which would lead into the club proper. As they reached the doors they slid open almost without a sound revealing the Night club proper, there was a large central area that was absolutely flooded with people dancing and chatting etc. The large central area was the dance floor and it appeared the actual floor was shifting colour it went from a light red to a vibrant blue, around the outside of the dance floor were loads of tables and what appeared to be a large bar at the back of the room, to the left of the bar were the stairs that led up to the next level. The strobe lights above the dance floor were mounted alongside the large glass skylights seemed to be shifting colour as well in fact there were strobes everywhere, and the music was your typical club fair.

"Hey Shepard lets go grab some seats yeah?" Daveth almost shouted into Shepard's ear, he nodded and they walked down into the club. They stuck to the side of the large room not wanting to go onto the dance floor just yet. As they weaved through the crowds of people Shepard was beginning to lose hope they would find an empty table, however he soon spotted a large one in the very corner of the room. The table was a large circular table that had a line of padded seats surrounding it, Shepard gestured over there and the group went to sit down.

Shepard sat on the end of the circular seats next to Lucy while the others took their places.

"So I'm going to head up to the bar what do you guys want? Although I know what you want Ash Whisky right?"

Daveth finished speaking with a wink at Ashley, deciding that he would need help Shepard volunteered to help the Welshman. They made it to the bar and found to their dismay that there was quite a back log of people requiring drinks.

Shepard smirked and decided to get his own back for the teasing he had suffered from Daveth earlier.

"So…you and Ashley huh? I didn't see that coming," Shepard said almost shouting to be heard over the din of the music and the crowds of people.

Daveth simply smiled and said "you're okay with me trying to get with her right? I mean you and her kind of had that situation back on the citadel after Flux."

Shepard was surprised that Daveth had admitted that he was actively seeking to get with Ashley.

"Huh yeah no it's okay with me, as you can tell I am not the most conventional of officers but just so we are clear I'm okay with relationships as long as it doesn't affect your fighting ability or performance."

Daveth smiled at Shepard "wow honestly you are the best officer I have ever served under sir."

Shepard chuckled "Daveth you're making me blush anyway I think the bar tender is free now."

A purple haired woman with large blue eyes came over and smiling.

"Hello what can I get you two fine gentlemen today?" She said and Shepard detected the Afrikaans accent.

Shepard smiled "I wouldn't class Daveth as a gentleman but anyway, I was told to tell you…hmm what was it" Shepard leaned in and whispered "'koninklike behandeling' by your boyfriend outside."

The woman scoffed "Jared wishes he was my boyfriend but anyway that phrase does entitle you to a free drink so what shall it be?"

"I would like my free drink to be a bottle of whisky and I shall pay for a bottle of Vodka, hmm tell me do you stock any New Albion ale or any Dextro based stuff?"

Shepard knew it was a large shot that they would stock Alcohol that Garrus or Tali could drink. "Okay that's fine and it's a yes to both of your questions."

"Okay could I please have seven bottles of the New Albion ale and four bottles of any Dextro based alcohol please."

"Alright not counting the whisky the rest comes to…twenty two pounds fifty pence."

Shepard handed her twenty five quid and told her to keep the change. He decided to bioticly carry the beers while Daveth carried the bottles of Vodka and Whiskey.

They finally made it back to their chairs and shared out the drinks.

Alf picked up a bottle of New Albion ale and examined it briefly before asking, "hey Shepard what's this?" Alf asked, Shepard simply smirked.

"That my dear Alfred is New Albion ale, that stuff will knock you on your arse, bloody nice though I thought you lads would appreciate trying some."

Alf seemed to continue examining the bottle before flipping off the cap and taking a long sip, his face seemed to contort for a second.

"Ah that is…odd the initial taste is bitter but the after taste is quite nice, ah my head is already starting to swim what's in that stuff?"

Shepard leaned back and took a sip from his own bottle and was about to reply to Daveth when Fergus did it for him. "The ingredients are some of the native flora that grows on New Albion, my granddad brews some of the stuff and sells it to tourists he makes a pretty penny from it as well."

Shepard had forgotten that Fergus was from new Albion, New Albion was one of the first extra solar colonies founded by the Empire it was also the largest and most populated British colony.

Ashley and Daveth were already on to Whisky shots and Garrus and Tali were chatting over their Dextro drinks.

Shepard slid over a bottle of the New Albion ale to Kaidan who accepted it reluctantly, Shepard hoped that if Kaidan got some alcohol in his veins he would lighten up a bit.

Shepard turned to Lucy who was sitting next to him, she seemed to be staring at nowhere in particular. Shepard nudged her with his shoulder and she seemed to snap into action.

"Oh sorry Shepard, I was just thinking."

Shepard took another sip from his ale before asking "oh really what is it thou art thinking about?"

Lucy chuckled "you use archaic English when you drink? How odd usually the vocabulary of a person decreases when they are drunk."

Shepard smirked "Indeed I usually do it when I get tipsy, I like archaic English there is something about it that just speaks to me as it were."

Lucy nodded hmm "wait you've only had one bottle and you're tipsy already? I didn't think you were such a light weight Shepard."

Shepard scoffed "have you tried one of these? I've built up a resistance this stuff usually knocks people on their arse and if you think you can do better…here."

Shepard slid across one of the bottles and gestured for Lucy to drink, she rolled her eyes and much to Shepards shock drank the entire bottle in one go.

She licked her lips and cast a glance over at Shepard as she did so. "It's nice can I have another?"

Shepard slid across another bottle which Lucy promptly opened and started drinking, Shepard poured himself a few shots of Vodka.

"Hey Shepard me, Alf and Kaidan are going to go and pop to the bar and try our luck if you know what I mean." Fergus said as he and Alf got up and left the table Shepard quickly lost them in the crowd of people.

He turned back to Lucy and found she had finished her second bottle, "ok you must be feeling the effects now surely."

She shook her head Shepard grumbled "ok I challenge you to a drinking competition, let's have some of this Imperiya Vodka."

After five minutes Daveth and Ashley had become giggly from the Whisky they had been drinking and had headed off to the dance floor leaving only Tali, Garrus who were embroiled in their on conversation and Lucy and Shepard had downed at least a dozen shots each and another bottle of the New Albion ale each.

Shepard was starting to feel the effects as his vision seemed to be waving and he was aware that his speech wasn't coming out quite as he had intended it to.

"Ok Lucy you have to be feeling tipsy at least I mean you had…I lost count actually…you even had some of the left over whisky."

Lucy was just looking at Shepard with a bemused smile on her face "I probably should have told you I have…a few genetic upgrades, it would take a hell of a lot more than this for alcohol to affect me."

"Ah ha I knew. I knew something was off bloody cheat although what kind of upgrades? I mean I have some as all soldiers do, but what kind did you get that you are all but immune to alcohol?"

Lucy seemed to break eye contact with Shepard and seemed to stare off into the distance an angry expression marring her face.

"My…my father made me get them when I was a child, God he was such an overbearing bastard."

Shepard didn't say anything for a second then he chuckled, this drew a look of ire from Lucy.

Shepard held his hands up "woah calm down, I didn't mean to offend you but it seems we have something in common. My father was and still is to a certain extent an overbearing bastard."

Lucy scoffed "I doubt he was as bad as mine…anyway talking about this has made me want to get drunk, come on."

Lucy stood up, Shepard drunkenly stared after her as she stood up. "Umm where are we going?" Shepard asked managing not to slur his words.

Lucy seemed about to respond when the voice of Garrus cut her off "don't worry Shepard, me and Tali will stay here and hold down the fort…I think that is the correct human expression."

Tali seemed to lightly hit him in the shoulder "Vakarian stop trying to be smart ass and…and what was I saying?"

Shepard chuckled the alcohol had clearly gotten to Tali although he had no idea how she was drinking it, a straw perhaps?

Lucy offered Shepard her hand and she helped him into a standing position he swayed for a few seconds before he managed to retain his balance.

"We are going to the bar, our conversation has left a bad taste in my mouth I wish to forget it, come on." Lucy started walking towards the bar but instead of going around the side of the room she walked straight through the middle of the dance floor making a bee line for the bar.

Shepard walked right behind Lucy as she walked, he swore he saw Daveth and Ashley but his view was quickly blocked when a dancing couple walked in front of them.

A large muscular man in a tank top suddenly stepped in front of Lucy.

"Hey darling, fancy a dance?"

"No", Lucy said simply. "Please step aside."

The man light touched her cheek and Shepard without realizing activated his biotics. He was about to activate his biotics he just felt like kicking that man's arse, wait was he feeling jealous?

Lucy smiled sweetly right before she punched the man full pelt in the gut and sent him crumbling to the floor, Lucy then simply continued on her way with Shepard now walking besides her.

"Bloody hell that was a good punch, some of that American commando training I take it?"

"Yes, I hate people touching me without permission, I don't really like being touchy feely." Lucy said in reply to Shepard's question.

"Well ok remind me never to touch you, I've been on the receiving end of your punch, I wouldn't like repeat that incident."

Lucy smirked then said just as they got to the bar, "such a gentleman Shepard, and a gentleman pays for a lady's drink."

Since Shepard was quite Tipsy at this point he didn't put up much of an argument as he handed some money to Lucy who leaned over the bar and instantly got the attention of one of the male bar tenders.

While Lucy was getting her drinks Shepard was surveying the club, he saw Fergus and Alf sitting at a table about ten meters away chatting to what looked like three woman.

Without alerting Lucy to his intent he walked over there and was noticed by Alf, Fergus and Kaidan who raised their glasses in greeting.

"Shepard glad you could join us. Noémie, Eveline and Nastasha it is my pleasure to introduce you to Commander John Shepard, the Hero of Elysium."

Fergus said Shepard wouldn't really call himself a hero but alas he still bore that title. In addition to Alf and Fergus sitting at the table there were three young women two of them were attractive Brunettes while the last was a blonde woman with blue eyes, Shepard could help but think how much she bore a resemblance to Liz. The two brunettes seemed to speak in French then giggled while pointing at the blonde woman who seemed to blush furiously.

"Shepard these three fine ladies here, are here on a trip as a part of their course studying what was it?" Fergus seemed to scratch his head he then turned to one of the Brunettes. "What did you say you were studying Nastasha? Excuse my memory I've had too many of these," Fergus held up a glass of what looked like beer.

"We are studying International Politics at Ecole Normale Supérieure, but we are specializing in Anglo-Franco relations hence why we came here. Fergus and Alf were telling us all about their fights in the Royal Marines, Is it true that Fergus managed to punch a Geth's head clear off it's body?"

Fergus looked at Shepard with pleading eyes and who was Shepard to deny his moment of glory. Shepard lent down and picked up Fergus's glass of Alcohol and downed the rest of it before smiling.

"Oh he did, he punched the bloody things head a good five meters and Alf here managed to take down a Geth walker with a single round to it's…umm energy core and Kaidan picked up an enemy tank with his biotics."

Alf and Fergus simply smiled in response to Shepard's tall tale while Kaidan looked a bit conflicted, the woman looked at the three marines in awe.

Shepard was about to say his farewells and go back to Lucy when the blonde woman talked to him, this was the first time she had spoken all she had been doing had been staring at him intently, this had made Shepard very uncomfortable considering the resemblance to Liz.

"Monsieur Shepard I…I would just like to thank you."

The two other women seemed to look at the blonde girl strangely. "Why are you thanking him Noémie?" Nastasha asked her head was cocked to the side in puzzlement.

"I…I was on Elysium when the Batarian's hit, my mother is British and I was staying with her on the planet at the time. Your regiments sacrifice allowed a lot of the civilians to evacuate before the Batarian's started bombing the city so just…thank you sir."

What was it about tonight that he couldn't escape bloody Elysium? Here was someone who looked like Liz mentioning it as well, he needed a bloody drink.

"Thanks umm Noémie nice to know our sacrifice wasn't in vain anyway I need to go now, so I'll you two later stay out of trouble lads." Shepard said as he started backing away, Alf and Fergus gave each other a mischievous glance.

Shepard made it back to the bar and couldn't find Lucy anywhere, deciding he would wait here in case she had gone to the loo or something he ordered a small bottle of Vodka and decided to start drinking it pure.

"Well, well somebody is anxious to get drunk aren't we?"

Shepard whirled around to find the owner of the voice, the woman standing in front of him was around his height she had long red hair and emerald green eyes with what looked like three small pinpricks of blue light. She also seemed to have a light splattering of freckles under her eyes, he also noticed she was wearing blood red lipstick and her outfit was a very curve hugging black and gold jumpsuit.

"Huh yeah I am, helps to cut loose when you're fighting merciless alien automatons."

"Aww poor soldier would you like some company?" She said as she slowly traced her hand down his chest. If Shepard hadn't have been drunk he would have most likely stopped her from touching him because even though she was bloody attractive he like Lucy enjoyed his personal space.

"Huh hmm ma…I mean no I'm waiting for someone they should be back soon" at least he hoped Lucy would be back soon he was getting an odd vibe off of this woman, she sounded almost like an American but there seemed to be a British twang to a lot of her words.

"Oh doesn't the soldier like me?" She hugged her chest, he had no doubt she was trying to emphasis her 'assets'. "Why don't you come outside with me, we can have some fuuuuunnnn?"

Part of him wanted to say yes but then the saner rational part told him that he didn't consort with harlots. "Hmm no I don't do stuff like that but hmm thanks anyway I think…"

Her expression swiftly changed from a sweet smile to a frown "hmm well that's a pity you were kind of cute and I was hoping to have some fun before we capture you."

"Sorry to disappoint bu…wait what?" Shepards alcohol addled brain took a few seconds to process what he had just heard.

It was at this point that Lucy came back "sorry Shepard I had to…"

Lucy stopped speaking and seemed to be staring at the red headed woman.

"Oh my God you're here to? Long-time no see bestie, how have you been?"

"Umm Lucy you know her?" Shepard was quite puzzled as to what was going on.

"Oh Lucy is it?" The woman winked at Lucy "Ok 'Lucy' I only have orders to secure Captain England here, so for old time's sake step aside would you darling?"

Lucy activated her biotics and said in a deadly serious tone "Shepard we need to run now."

The red headed woman sighed then outstretched her hands and seemed to be examining her nails, "oh fine if I have to kill you very well." She put a hand to her ear "Lieutenant Starling please execute the original plan please."

The music of the club changed from the steady beat it had been for the time Shepard had been there into an intense fast paced song, and to correspond with that the skylights above the dance floor were destroyed sending broken glass hurtling to the floor. People screamed as the glass finally made contact with the crowd below, suddenly half the people in the centre of the dance floor started floating into the air encased in what looked like biotics but this was red, the people were then sent flying in all directions leaving the centre of the dance floor clear. Then what looked like a dozen heavily armoured soldiers came rushing through the broken skylights using some type of rocket pack.

The unknown soldiers were equipped with heavy armour that was white and gold with small eye slights that red light seemed to come out from, a few of them were equipped with what Shepard recognized as plasma weapons. The breaking of the skylights and the strange biotic attack had all happened in a matter of seconds and then they started firing energy weapons as well as mass effect slugs, their weapons were cutting through the crowd and panic ensured as people attempted to rush to the exit's very few made it however.

Shepard suddenly felt a biotic force throw him behind the bar he avoided hitting his head but only just, Lucy swiftly jumped behind the bar as well. Shepard could hear gunfire and screaming, his vision was swimming and he cursed that he had been drinking.

He suddenly saw three more pairs of bodies jump into the cover the bar provided and was happy to see it was Fergus, Alf and Kaidan.

"Lucy what the hell is going on?" Shepards shouted into to Lucy's ear so he would be heard over the gunfire music and screams.

"They are trying to kill us."

"Nice one bloody Sherlock" Fergus shouted, Lucy simply glared at him.

"What happened to the three French girls?" Shepard asked the three marines looked at each other with worried expressions.

"They bolted commander for the exit I think they made it…well I hope," Kaidan replied.

"Shit Ashley and Daveth were on the dance floor weren't they? And Garrus and Tali are…Fuck. Okay I think I have a plan there was about eight of them not including that woman so I think with the biotic power of us three combined we should be able to kick their arses."

Lucy simply shook her head in response to Shepards plan "no we can't that woman out there…her biotics are some of the most powerful in the galaxy."

"Even if that is so if we keep a level head we should be alright and it isn't like we can escape anyway, they have a clear arc of fire so if we try to run we get cut down."

Lucy seemed about to reply to Shepard when the music and gunfire suddenly stopped he could still hear moans of pain from the wounded.

"Is…is this thing on? Oh it is? Good ahem" It sounded like the red headed woman was speaking over a pa system of some kind, she put on a mock deep voice and began speaking again. "I have seized control of the DJ booth hence the voice now come out, I would rather I don't lose any man in this little escapade so come along peacefully and I won't shoot your companion what was your name again young man?"

The sound of someone moving a microphone came over the PA system "Rydw i'n mynd i ladd chi ast Rwy'n mynd i ffycin lladd chi."

Well judging from the voice and the angry Welsh swear words Shepard knew she had Daveth and cursed under his breath.

"Bloody shit, shit. Okay I would rather my mate doesn't have his brain splattered across the floor. I'll come out then once they are distracted I'll shout 'now' or something like that, then you hit them with your biotics okay?"

Shepard went to stand up but a hand on his forearm stopped him, he saw it was Lucy her eyes seemed to be begging him not to go. He smiled and lightly touched her arm for the briefest moment before standing up with his biotics fully active.

"Alright I'm here, I'll come quietly just let Daveth go okay?"

The red headed women smiled she was standing behind a DJ both and she looked to be smashing Daveth's face on the booth, she stopped when she saw Shepard and appeared to activate her biotics as a red aura surrounded her and Daveth.

She then sent Daveth flying into a group of tables, he didn't seem to stand up again. The armoured soldiers raised their weapons at Shepard, he couldn't place the armour it bore elements of American, British and even Japanese design.

The woman still encased in a red biotic aura started walking towards him carefully avoiding the bodies on the floor.

Once she was two meters in front of him she put her hands on her hips and pouted "aw I thought you would put up more of a fight oh well we will have plenty of fun back on the ship."

Shepard chuckled the woman continued smiling and chuckled as well then she said "what's so funny Captain England?"

"Now!" Shepard shouted at the top of his lungs he threw a singularity at the massed rank of soldiers the attack caught three of them in its grasp. That initial attack was soon followed up in split seconds by attacks from Lucy and Kaidan.

With the soldiers distracted by Lucy and Kaidan, Shepard decided to deal with the red head, he put all his power into his attack and charged.

He smashed into the woman expecting to send her flying but was shocked beyond belief when he found she had simply held up her red aura encased hand, this stopped him dead in his tracks he felt her power it was massive.

She yawned then smirked "awww that almost made me work to deflect it haha."

Shepard took this opportunity to sweep her legs out from under her with a kick this sent her crashing onto her back, he went into bioticly punch her but was stopped again inches from her face. He felt liquid dripping down his face and realized he had a nose bleed from the power he was putting into his biotics.

"Tut tut you're so bold Shepard pinning a lady to the floor on the first date haha." She used her biotics to move him slightly then she kicked him full pelt in the gut this sent him skidding five meters across the floor.

He looked across to the bar and saw that Lucy was hurling attacks at the hostile soldiers while Kaidan provided a shield that blocked their plasma attacks Alf and Fergus had even joined in as they threw burning projectiles at the armoured troops a pity the flame harmlessly bounced off their shields while the glass was stopped by their kinetic barriers.

"Oh is your ego hurt?" Shepard grumbled and looked up to see the smiling face of that dammed women he tried to stand up but she was holding him down with her immense biotic power. She looked over to where Lucy and Kaidan were and sent what appeared to be a biotic energy blast that sent them crashing into the bar, he heard Lucy scream out in pain as she was slammed into the back of the bar.

Shepard focused all of his remaining energy into a last ditch do or die attack to try and hurt this insane bitch. So charging up his energy he threw off her oppressive biotic field then bioticly punched her in the gut this sent her reeling.

Shepard hopeful that he could end it before the remaining hostile soldiers opened fire bioticly charged again. He smashed into her and sent her smashing into a wall he smiled hoping he had finally done it but then saw her eyes lock onto him. She shook her finger before activating her biotic powers and sending him smashing into a pile of tables and then into a wall.

Shepards managed to stand up but his vision was becoming blurry, he swore he heard what sounded like sirens and distant hums of an aircraft. The woman had begun walking over to him but stopped in her tracks when she heard the sirens.

"Ma 'arm, Nemesis Alpha reports that a large military force is heading for our position if we don't leave right this second…well we can't stand up against the force heading here now I advise we abort mission." One of the large armoured soldiers said as he came to stand beside the woman.

"Hmm a pity but very well see you later", she blew a kiss to Shepard before her and the remaining soldiers walked to the centre of the dance floor below the ruined skylights. One of the armoured soldiers wrapped his arm around her waist and then they activated their jetpacks shooting up into the air and out the building, Shepard wasn't sure but he thought he heard the hum of an aircraft moving.

Once the hostiles had left Shepard limped over to Daveth who was closest, as Shepard got closer he saw that Daveth was starting to get up but he seemed to be holding his arm and Shepard saw why, it appeared that there was a bone sticking out of it.

"Shit Daveth your bloody arm."

"God this hurts but never mind me, Shepard Ashley was shot!" Daveth shouted in alarm he quickly ran past Shepard to an area near the side of the dance floor as Shepard followed after him he saw indeed that Ashley had been shot. She was lying down on the floor with her eyes closed and back against the wall, she was breathing heavily and Shepard saw three bullet holes in her, two in the shoulder and one in the stomach.

Daveth was now sitting next to her and seemed to be besides himself with worry, "shit, shit Ash are you alright stay with me."

Ashley's eyes fluttered open "oh hey Dav…glad to see you're okay and Skipper too, ah ow I'm busted up quite bad…I don't think they hit anything vital though thank God."

Daveth seemed to be on the verge of tears he smiled and grasped Ashley's hand, Shepard wanted to go check on the others but it was at that moment that the doors to the club flew open with a large explosion that sent the doors flying and dozens upon dozens of soldiers armoured in night black armour stormed the club.

About ten soldiers ran up to Shepard, Daveth and the injured Ashley and started demanding they put their hands on their heads. Shepard did as he was told when he saw that on the soldiers chest plate was the red cross that represented the Royal intelligence service.

"Please she is gravely injured she needs help!" Daveth shouted, the armoured commandos seemed to look at each other before nodding.

"We'll help her, her vitals appear to be stable we just need to stop the bleeding Parker you're up!" One of the commandos with the bars of a sergeant bellowed and one of the man ran forward and started treating Ashley.

"Umm can I move now?" Shepard asked, the commando who had ordered Ashley's treatment seemed to speak to someone over the comm before nodding.

Shepard turned around and was surprised to see Tali and Garrus coming into the building alongside dozens of medical personal. Garrus and Tali ran over and Tali instantly went to Ashley's side where Garrus went to Shepard.

"Commander glad to see are okay, me and Tali were outside when the shooting started…getting fresh air." Garrus seemed to look around before turning back to Shepard "where are the others?"

Shepard was suddenly reminded of Lucy he then pushed past Garrus and ran to the bar he leaped over it and saw that Kaidan, Alf and Fergus seemed to be starting to stand again most of them nursing wounds from broken glass. As he looked he saw that Lucy was lying on the floor with a small pool of blood under her head.

His heart almost leapt out of his throat as he quickly went to her and rolled her over, her eyes were unfocused and her arms and legs as well as her dress was covered in cuts from broken glass. The most worrying aspect however was the large gash on her forehead that seemed to be bleeding.

"Oh hey Shepard, why…why do I feel so tired I think I may go back to sleep now." Her accent seemed to have shifted to an Aussie one while Shepard thought this odd he had to focus on keeping her awake.

He cradled her in his arms and picked her up, "no come on Lucy stay with me. Medic!"

One of the nearby paramedics that had been checking over the corpses of the dead clubbers ran over to Shepard. Shepard looked down at Lucy who now had her eyes open and she was struggling to suppress a cry of pain.

"It's going to be okay Lucy, it's going to be okay…" Lucy seemed to smile for the briefest moment before crying out in pain.

He lay Lucy down on the floor and the paramedic took her off his hands but she didn't leave his gaze.

One of the black armoured commandos this one with the bars that showed he was a Commander like Shepard approached.

"Sir I have been asked to take you and your non injured squad members to see Lord Marquesse Andrew Hunt right away, don't worry we'll keep your girlfriend safe and make sure the rest are treated." Shepard was about to reply saying she wasn't his girlfriend but he didn't bother, the commando's emotions were completely unknowable thanks to his full face helmet.

"There is a Banshee gunship waiting outside to take you there now sir, please follow me." The commando turned around and started walking, Shepard with one last glance to the wounded Lucy and Ashley followed the commando and as he walked he made sure he avoided stepping on any of the dead bodies or pools of blood.

End of Chapter ten next chapter Vulcans realm.

Please tell me what you think I apologise for any errors.


	14. Chapter Eleven: Vulcans realm

I have seen a few other authors do this and I would like to ask if anybody would like to do some art work to be the cover for this story? Now I like Lord Kitchener (guy on the poster) as much as the next man but I would like something more.

**Chapter Eleven****:**** Vulcans realm****.**

An hour and a half after the incident at the second circle, Shepard along with Fergus, Alf, Kaidan plus Garrus and Tali were sitting in the back of a Westland Banshee which was heading to meet Lord Hunt.

They were not alone in the back of Banshee as there sat on the gunners seats two of the black armoured troopers who had saved them at the club. The side doors of the gun ship were wide open and all Shepard could see was the sight of a dark ocean being lightly illuminated by the moon light, he knew they must have been travelling quite fast as the vast ocean seemed to be rolling by in the blink of an eye.

Shepard grimaced he had a bruise developing on his face from when he had been smashed into a pile of table by that bitch earlier. Although he knew they were going to see Lord Hunt he didn't know where they were going, thus he decided to ask the black armoured troopers.

"Excuse me where are we heading?" The nearest solider turned around slightly, Shepard wished that he could see their faces but all he got was a face plate and two small blue eye slits.

"We are currently over the Java sea and are en route to Singapore, once there we are to land at the King William V tower, once there we will take you to Lord hunt and our eta is about ten minutes sir."

Shepard was quite surprised the soldiers helmet speakers seemed to be making his voice sound deeper, but Shepard nodded and leaned back into his seat, he didn't know why but Imperial Intelligence troops always made him feel uneasy. Imperial Intelligence was different from the other branches of the military, the Intelligence service answered directly to the Crown, most of them were fanatically loyal and deadly.

Shepard looked out of the side of the aircraft once more he spotted dozens of small pinpricks of light which he assumed were ocean going ships. Shepard with a sigh turned to the other members of his squad.

"So I assume everyone is still a bit shaken up from earlier?"

Fergus replied to Shepards question , "yeah bloody terrible how so many innocent people died. I hope the others are okay though…"

An image of the injured Lucy flashed through his mind, he did hope she was okay and Ashley too. As he went over the earlier events something bothered him.

"Hey Garrus why were you and Tali outside?"

Garrus seemed to squirm in his seat opposite Shepard, "oh umm we...were, well umm I think Tali should answer this."

"Oh umm I thought I had a…a puncture in my suit and since it was too busy in the club to check I wanted to go outside where I could do a…examination" Tali finished speaking and tried to avoid eye contact with Shepard.

"Yep that was it and so I decided to accompany her since…well we are on Earth and it could be dangerous…yeah that was the reason."

Garrus was fidgeting in his seat more than ever after what he said. Fergus glanced over to Fergus and Alf who were chuckling at Garrus and Tali.

"Oh aye sure mate whatever you say" Fergus said between bouts of quite laughter.

Shepard looked over to Kaidan who hadn't said a word since they had left the club. Deciding to see if he was alright he decided to speak to him, "Kaidan are you okay?"

Kaidan seemed to snap back to reality and looked to Shepard, "sorry sir, I've…I've never really seen dead civvies it's just quite a shock. Damn I sound like a coward sorry sir."

Shepard shook his head "I would be worried if you weren't affected by it at all, I remember my first dead civvie." Shepard frowned and lowered his voice to almost a whisper "It was a young girl maybe sixteen seventeen I'm not sure, she was lying beside a burning Lancelot tank. There were around five bodies of the Kings own Elysian Yeomanry troopers laying around and at least a dozen dead Batarian's…but anyway it's normal to have a reaction is what I was trying to say."

Kaidan nodded "Yeah I suppose you're right, thank you sir."

Shepard smiled in reply, the remaining ten minutes went by in relative silence with only the quite hum of the aircrafts engine making a sound.

"We are now entering the airspace of Singapore please appreciate the view." A woman's voice came over the PA system Shepard assumed it was the pilot because as soon as she had finished speaking the aircraft titled to the left and changed course giving Shepard and his squad an unobstructed view of the city.

The city was massive it was indeed a mega city having long ago grown beyond the island of Singapore itself, it now sprawled across the southern tip of British Malaysia. The city held dozens of buildings that were over two kilometres in height, in fact Shepard could just make out from here a Lancaster class battle cruiser that was docked in the Singapore spaceport, and the Lancaster was dwarfed by the sheer scale of the buildings around it. The buildings of Singapore were sleek and resembled the sort of Asari architecture that you would see on a planet like Ilium or Thessia. In between the titanic structures hundreds of small pinpricks of light could be seen streaming along the air, these were air cars.

The tallest building out of them all of them was the King William V tower, the building was in the centre of Singapore and it seemed to be standing alone as there was quite large space between it and other building around it. The tower had been built in 2100 to celebrate the reign of King William V, the building was built to be a symbol of British power east of Suez and it still was.

"This is just wow, I've never seen anything like this."

Shepard chuckled at Tali's wonderment, Fergus spoke up as well. "This place is bloody massive this makes the cities on New Albion look like bloody Orkney."

The Banshee started to descend into the city staying just above the air car lanes but low enough that it was still in the shadow of the mega skyscrapers. As they passed the buildings Shepard saw large Neon signs displaying Chinese characters, although Shepard had never learnt Chinese so he didn't know what the devil was they were saying.

The Banshee was almost at the tower when Shepard noticed on what appeared to be a park area around the base of the tower, however it wasn't a park area at all it contained dozens of anti-air craft weapons turrets that seemed to be tracking them as they descended onto a landing platform that was around a kilometre up on the two and a half kilometre tower and was jutting out the side of the tower.

The Banshee touched down with a slight bump and almost the second it had the two Intelligence soldiers disembarked, Shepard followed their lead as did his squad and they got out through the sides of the aircraft.

Once they had all disembarked the Banshee quickly took off and shot off into the sky.

"Follow me please sir" one of the soldiers said, Shepard nodded and the squad followed them as they walked to what appeared to be a large sliver airlock. As they approached the airlock slid open revealing the insides of the building, Shepard had to say he was impressed.

They appeared to have walked into some sort of lobby, it was a large wide open area with shiny sleek black flooring but the walls seemed to be chrome silver. The most impressive feature however was a ten meter tall white marble statue of Britannia, Britannia was garbed in a long toga with long flowing hair, and she was also holding a shield with the Imperial flag as its crest in her right hand while in her left hand she was holding aloft a laurel wreath and the statues head was gazing at the wreath. Shepard assumed this symbolised the saying look to one's laurels, the statue on either side was flanked by staircases that led to the next floor.

The two soldiers who were guiding them didn't go up the stairs however they veered off down a hallway that was set in the right of the lobby. They passed dozens of offices on the way there, and as they neared the end of the hall way Shepard saw that there was a single door with two guards standing either side of it. The two guards were equipped with Iceni Imperial class armour this was the best protection a soldier could ask for, with kinetic barriers and shields that could withstand massive amounts of punishment. The Iceni armour was painted in dark red and black with the small eye slits giving off a blue light.

As they approached the end of the corridor one of the soldiers clad in Iceni armour with the bars of a colonel spoke in a rumbling voice that could most likely make a mountain shake.

"You two you can leave now Lord Hunt will see Commander Shepard, Shepard please step inside I must request however that your squad mates wait outside for the duration."

The two soldiers who had been their guide seemed confused but obeyed nether the less. Just before Shepard walked into Lord Hunt's office he turned around to face his squad.

"Well…have fun while I'm gone and please refrain from causing too much trouble."

Fergus smirked while Kaidan saluted Shepard "good luck sir" Kaidan said, Alf simply nodded.

Shepard half returned the salute and then turned around and walked through the door as it slid open. The office he stepped in was quite spacious its back wall was a large window that looked out onto the city of Singapore, and there were book selves on either side of the room. Another thing he noticed was a large oil painting hanging on the wall that seemed to depict a large black three headed wolf walking out of a wall of flame and what appeared to be a hoplite standing with shield draw in front of it, at the bottom of the painting there was small section of writing on the bottom of the paintings frame that read as 'the twelfth labour of Hercules'.

The desk in the centre of the room was a quite modest metal desk with a simple terminal, and behind the desk sat not Lord Hunt but a woman. The woman stood up and Shepard got a better look at her face, he almost had a heart attack however when he saw who it was.

"Are you alright Commander you seem to have gone a tad bit pale?"

The woman in question was not just any woman but it was in fact the youngest child of the King, Princess Scarlett of the house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Shepard was lost for words he found it quite funny that he could charge enemy lines just fine, but being in the presence of Royalty made him seize up. Not knowing whether to bow or salute he did both in rapid succession, the princess seemed to find this amusing as she giggled.

"Relax Commander I don't spit fire or eat people…well when I'm happy at least" she finished off the sentence with a smirk that Shepard felt a tiger would give just before it ate you.

There was a reason that the Kaisers son and the Heir apparent of the Iberian union had asked for her hand in marriage, she was absolutely stunning. She had long golden hair and large blue eyes, she came to stand in front of the desk and Shepard saw that she was wearing black ankle high boots with stockings and a short skirt, as well as what appeared to be a dark purple Victoria style blouse and what appeared to be a corset of matching colour. Shepard had to say that it wasn't the most conventional outfit for a Royal but that was why she was characterized as the 'wild one'.

"Er…" Shepard cleared his throat before continuing to speak, "your Royal Highness I was under the Impression that I was to be meeting Lord Hunt here."

There was that smirk again "oh Lord Hunt has been…delayed shall we say", as she finished speaking she jumped up slightly so she was now sat on the desk. She crossed one leg over the other before continuing, "now Shepard I would like to ask you a few questions about the incident at the…second circle (charming name), would you be willing to answer?"

"Of course Ma 'arm" Shepard knew it had been a rhetorical question, he couldn't very well say no.

"Good now my men have tried finding video evidence of the attack but it appears all the cameras in the area were jammed, so alas no luck there. We have also interviewed one of your squad mates one…Corporal Daveth Evans as a side note his concern for Second Leftenant Ashley Williams was quite touching. Anyway I would like to hear your account of the event."

Shepard recounted the earlier events the Princess asked the occasional question (especially about the armour and weapons of the hostiles) but otherwise remained silent.

"Also may I ask if my injured squad mates are all right you're Royal Highness?"

She nodded "although Williams and that American lost quite a bit of blood they should be up in no time, ah the wonders of medical science, anyway please continue your account of the event."

Once Shepard had finished his account of the attack the Princess seemed to scowl, "I was afraid it was them and you have just confirmed my suspicions."

"I know we killed a couple shouldn't you have been able to examine their bodies?"

She shook her head "impossible I'm afraid they seemed to have small explosive charges built into their armour, shortly after you departed they detonated."

"So we know who these bast…I mean who these people are Ma 'arm?"

She nodded "we know who that woman you fought is but I am afraid anything more is classified, I do hope you understand." The Princess got off the desk and walked towards Shepard so she was standing straight in front of him with her hands on her hips. "I would also like to ask about these visions you received from the Prothean beacon what do you see exactly?"

"Well it's still unclear but I've managed to pick out isolated bits and pieces."

"Such as?"

"Well I managed to see what I believe to be the Prothean Empire falling to an enemy force as well as bits and pieces of savage fighting against cybernetic horrors and giant onyx four legged walkers, I…I think I also saw what resembled the ship that we saw at Eden prime and bits and pieces of an alien planet."

The Princess seemed to lightly bite the bottom of her lip "that is…troubling to hear…we are running out of time." She whispered the last part under her breath and Shepard was only just able to catch it, he hadn't a clue what it meant though. "Do you see anything that will give us any clue as to what or where this conduit is? As that Asari that you captured on Feros was killed unfortunately."

"What how?"

She sighed "it was ghastly business according to the report, apparently during her interrogation on Horsell she appeared to go mad, and started claiming she was hearing voices and seeing things, it appears that the strain of the cypher broke her. She managed to somehow escape her restraints and was then put down by a squad of Royal Marines so as of now only you and presumably Saren can understand these visions."

The Princess paused and seemed to lock eyes with Shepard before speaking, "tell me you haven't been feeling any ill effects from the cypher have you?"

Shepard was a bit surprised that the Asari was dead but replied regardless, "apart from a raging headache when I woke up and the visions no I haven't experienced anything akin to what you described there. In regards to the conduit no, I have seen nothing apart from…hmm there was a point in my vision where I saw a planet but I have no idea where it was, it's still too jumbled and kind of abrupt like it's not complete, maybe the Beacon exploded before the whole thing was given to me."

"Hmm it's a shame you haven't got more information on the conduit but from what you have described it makes it sound like time is all the more precious. Lord Hunt should be arriving just about…"

The door to the office slid open and a large bear of a man with a handle bar moustache and admiral's uniform came storming in.

"What is the bloody meaning of…" The man stopped when he saw the Princess standing in front of Shepard, she smirked and half waved at him.

"I'm trust you are having a pleasant night Lord Hunt? Myself and Commander Shepard were just going over the incident earlier." The Princess said pleasantly in a sing song voice, although Shepard felt the tension in the room.

"Oh yes of course your Royal Highness please forgive me I wasn't aware it was you, but I must ask why are you here?" Lord hunt said his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he passed the two of them and stood behind his desk.

"My brother sent me to…check up on the situation in person, as it is a dark day when dozens of armed men from…that organization can stage an attack in one of our largest cities on Earth and then disappear into thin air…almost as if someone was helping them…"

"Are you implying it may have been me or someone under my command? I will not stand for that."

The Princess held up her hands "I accuse you of nothing Lord Hunt as I am sure I need not remind you your loyalties lie with the Crown." The Princess paused and a glare that could most likely stop a dreadnaught in its tracks was fixed on Lord Hunt. "Also need I remind you of your station? I ask that you watch your tone when addressing me. Now I believe you have a mission for Shepard?"

"Yes of course sorry Ma 'arm" Hunt sighed but cast a glare at the Princess before continuing "I suppose I need not ask how you know before I have submitted my report?"

The Princess smirked "well we all have our 'little helpers' don't we Lord Hunt?"

Hunt locked eyes with the Princess before turning his gaze to Shepard. "Shepard glad to finally meet you in person, just unfortunate it had to be under these circumstances I hope your squad mates recover quickly."

"Thank you sir" Shepard replied as he saluted.

Hunt nodded and seemed to withdraw a pipe from a draw behind his desk then lit it before continuing, the Princess simply crossed her arms and looked around seemingly uninterested. "Now to the matter at hand" Hunt taped a button on his terminal and a holographic image of an Asari was projected casting a blue glow upon the office. "This is Dr Liara T'soni she is the daughter of Matriarch Benezia we believe she may be working with Saren and if not she will be a valuable asset due to her knowledge about the Protheans and she may even be able to give us more information on what this Conduit is."

Shepard nodded "so I assume you want the Hastings to go there and secure her?"

Hunt shook his head this surprised Shepard. "No the Hastings shall not be involved for this mission, I shall be sending you as well as the team you bought with you to the battle cruiser HMS Princess Royal which is quite a coincidence considering the Princess's presence."

The Princess nodded "I remember launching that ship when I was ten." The Princess seemed to say to herself.

Hunt continued "once you are aboard you shall be heading to Knossos system to an Asari corporate owned world called Therum."

"Excuse me sir but why do we need to send a battle cruiser surely something smaller like the Hastings or a normal frigate would be better for a routine pick up?"

Hunt shook his head "The Asari was sent to the world on a dig financed by a joint Reich-Asari company however a week after she was sent there the colony stopped reporting in and the ships that were sent have failed to report in. As it was a decently populated colony it would not have fallen easily so the ground team of the Hastings would not have been enough."

Shepard was shocked if an Imperial colony had gone dark you could bet your Kings shilling that there would be Royal navy ships in orbit within the day. "Sir why haven't the Asari sent their own forces to check on the planet?"

"Because" Hunt said "it was a private enterprise not sanctioned by the Asari Republics themselves a bit like no one would care if those Red scum out in the Terminus were to be attacked*."

"I understand sir."

Hunt nodded "good you shall be placed under the overall command of Commodore Mason and your objective is to secure Dr T'soni alive and unharmed as well as anything that may appear…useful."

"What are my orders if indeed she is working with Saren and proves to be hostile?"

"Non-lethal force couple of rounds to the leg shouldn't kill her now as to the meeting with the rest of the Admiralty that shall have to be done through the ships communications systems. There is a shuttle that shall be…"

Hunt was cut off by the Princess speaking over him "no need I shall be heading to the Princess Royal as well."

Hunt seemed to glare at the Princess "with all due respect Ma 'arm isn't this a bit sudden?"

The Princess simply smiled a toothy grin "no it isn't and you sound like you don't want me to come it's almost as if you have something to hide, but that would be silly since only a fool would attempt to betray the Crown."

Shepard knew that Hunt was hiding something and evidently the Princess knew as well and if she knew then the Intelligence service knew, so why hadn't they acted?

"Of course not Princess just…worried for your Royal Highness's safety, the Princess Royal is currently in orbit above us I will have docking information sent to your shuttles computer."

The Princess nodded "thank you Lord Hunt my brother will be coming to see you shortly he will be having a little chat with you."

Hunt rolled his eyes "I look forward to the arrival of the Heir apparent now if this is all I need to get back to work, apparently the Quarian flotilla strip minded asteroids that rightfully belonged to one of our mining corporations and the local defence forces are requesting permission to attack, bloody aliens."

The Princess glared at Hunt "we'll let you get right back to that, this meeting is over, come on Shepard."

Shepard nodded and saluted Lord Hunt, Hunt ignored him which annoyed Shepard no end and with that Shepard followed the Princess out of the room.

As they emerged from the office Shepard saw the his squad look over as the door to the office slid open, the look on the human's was priceless, Shepard wondered if he had had that same look when he had first seen her in the office.

Fergus, Alf and Kaidan instantly bowed to the Princess while Tali and Garrus looked at the humans oddly.

"Umm what are you guys doing?" Garrus asked before Fergus grabbed his arm and pulled him into a bowing position.

The Princess looked to Shepard and a smirk spread across her face and she laughed, Shepard himself was on the very of laughing as well.

Once the Princess had finished chuckling she walked forward "please rise there is no need, although the looks on your faces were indeed amusing."

The three humans as well as Garrus resumed their normal standing position. "Who is this may I ask?" Tali asked the Princess turned her gaze to Tali and seemed to regard her curiously before replying.

"I am Princess Scarlett of the Royal house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and second in line to the throne of the British Empire."

Tali seemed taken aback "ah I'm…sorry if I acted in any way that offends we haven't had Royalty since the great revolutions that happened in what you would call an industrial age. So please don't look down on the Quarian people I honestly meant no offence." Tali bowed as she finished her sentence while the Princess looked on with a bemused smile.

"No you haven't offended me in the least, in fact you have quite bemused me Tali."

"How do you know my name?" Tali asked confused, the Princess smirked.

"I know a lot of things, now let's not dilly dally we can chat on the way into orbit, my shuttle is waiting to take us to the Princess Royal Asari don't capture themselves come on, Albert, Johnson follow me please." The Princess said as she started to walk away the two Iceni clad troopers quickly walked after her their boots echoing on the metal floor as they went.

Fergus looked over to Shepard "wait we are going where to do what?"

Shepard started following the Princess and just waved him off and said "I'll explain on the way there mate but long story short we are going to go onto a battle cruiser to go and capture an Asari that is the daughter of Benezia so is a maybe, maybe not ally of Saren."

Fergus just looked at Alf and Kaidan who shrugged and started following Shepard down the hallway.

Ten minutes later they were all on a shuttle that was currently in orbit, the shuttle was just now heading into the docking bay of the one kilometre long battle cruiser. Just from looking out of the shuttles side windows Shepard could see the sheer amount of fire power that the Princess Royal held, dozens of rows of point defence lasers as well as rows of magnetic accelerator cannons and energy weapons that would shred any foe that was fool enough to get close enough for a broadside.

The docking bay on the side of the ship opened and the shuttle passed through the shielding that contained the atmosphere and landed, the shuttle shook slightly as it hit the ground. Shepard had never been on a battle cruiser or anything above a light cruiser for that matter, so he wondered what he would find once the doors on the sides of the shuttle opened.

The shuttle doors opened with a slight hiss the Princess was the first out followed by her two body guards then followed by the rest of the squad. The hanger was huge Shepard could see at least five other shuttles as well as dozens of men, speaking of men at least what looked like a dozen soldiers were currently stood to attention they all bowed once the Princess had disembarked.

One man in a commodore's uniform stepped forward there was one thing about his uniform that was odd he had cufflinks that were in the shape of a wolf.

The man who Shepard assumed to be Mason bowed and kissed the Princess's hand before speaking.

"Your Royal Highness it is an unexpected…pleasure to welcome you aboard I do hope you will be satisfied with the quarters which I am giving up for you."

The Princess scowled before speaking "there is no need for such pomp and ceremony" she gestured to the assembled troopers. "I shall be observing the mission and making sure you all do your duty that is all, now I want us to be underway on the double."

Mason bowed again before speaking "of course your highness, Nelson!"

An AI avatar that looked exactly like an early Nineteenth century naval officer appeared.

"You require my assistance?" The AI said in a crisp and clear voice.

Mason nodded "Please tell the bridge crew to get underway immediately and make sure her highness quarters are ready for when she arrives."

The AI nodded before turning to the Princess and smiling "I remember you christening this ship when you were but ten years old your Royal Highness, your beauty has only increased with age may if I may be so bold."

The Princess smiled "thank you Nelson, now Commander Shepard here and his squad need some uniforms as you can see their current civilian attire is not in the best of states."

The commodore nodded he turned around to face the platoon of soldiers. "Captain Massani!"

A man in heavy armour stepped forward Shepard was surprised the man was only a Captain he looked as old as his father with a large scar running down his face.

"I require that you show Commander Shepard and his squad to the armoury, and then to the quarters we have prepared for them." Mason said.

The man nodded "Yes sir, come on Commander follow me." The man said in a gruff voice. Just as Shepard started to follow the Captain the Princess shot her hand out and grabbed his shoulder.

"I will talk to you later Shepard come and find me."

"Yes your Royal Highness" he replied.

The Princess smiled and released her surprisingly strong grip then turned back to the Commodore, Shepard ran to catch up to his squad and Massani who were now exiting the hanger.

They exited the hanger and walked along in silence for a few seconds before before Massani spoke, "Commander Shepard it's a pleasure to meet you, the names Zaeed." Zaeed offered his hand to Shepard who accepted it the man had a firm hand shake Shepard could tell that much. "I do have to say I envy you."

Shepard looked puzzled "why would that be?" 'Maybe it's my stunning good looks?' Shepard mentally chuckled at his own joke.

"You got to spend time with Princess Scarlett, God damn is she nice to look at." Shepard awkwardly chuckled however he heard Fergus behind him laugh.

"I agree" Fergus said this received a nod from Zaeed.

"So tell me Captian Massani I would think someone of your…age would be a higher rank." Shepard said as they continued walking through the winding corridors of the ship.

Zaeed laughed "I would have been higher but court martials tend to get you de-ranked hell the only reason I haven't been kicked out yet is because I am just so good at my job, I mean the brass tends to allow me to get away with things because I saved the Prime ministers daughter on Praxxia*."

Shepard turned to Zaeed with a new found respect "Wait you're the Zaeed Massani? I thought I recognized the name but damn." Fergus said now looking at Zaeed like he was a hero.

Shepard smiled "Bloody hell I honestly just finished reading the book adaption just before I shipped out for the Hastings. Was the bit about you receiving a direct hit from one of their tanks true?"

Zaeed laughed "Yeah it was, even though my shield didn't break I swear I heard my ears ringing for months afterwards, but it was quite fun I must admit."

They finally turned a corner and arrived at a large airlock that slid open when they approached once they were inside Shepard examined the large room it was almost as big as the hanger. In addition to the array of lockers plus the weapons and armour racks there were a group of four mechs towards the back of the large room. Shepard was confused how the seven meter tall machines had gotten there until he realized the large central part of the armoury was indeed a large elevator that Shepard assumed the mechs would stand on then they would be taken to the one of the hanger bays.

The large armoury was quite busy with various troops and naval personal examining and working on various weapons and armour pieces. "Ok just go talk to Vijay over there and…where did your mate go?" Shepard turned to see where Zaeed was looking and noticed Fergus had buggered off somewhere, he glanced to Alf who pointed over to the mechs and saw that Fergus was currently fawning over them.

Shepard sighed "I thought Tali would have been the one to do that okay the rest of you go grab your equipment I'll go grab Fergus." His squad nodded and went to walk over to where Zaeed had said Vijay was, but as Shepard walked he heard someone come running behind him, as he turned around he was greeted with the 'face' of Tali.

"Shepard wait up I want to see the mechs up close too" Shepard sighed but agreed to Tali's request. The four mechs appeared to be worked on by crews of engineers he saw several in welder masks as they were using welding tools on the large machines. Fergus was currently looking at the nearest mech which Shepard recognized to be a Saint Georges class although there were a few subtle differences, one of them being that the armour seemed to be a different type of metal to the norm and the shield generators on the things back were much, much smaller.

As Shepard looked closer he saw on the machines chest plate there was a hand painted tiger that appeared to be biting into a heart, as he looked over the mech once more he saw there were several dents and what appeared to be battle damage including several holes in the hull.

"Wow Commander look at this thing this is one of the new mark II models, only about twenty are currently in service they use smaller shields but they are much more powerful as well as heavier armour."

Shepard looked to Fergus "mate if you are so interested in mechs why did you join the Royal Marines?"

Fergus sighed "I failed the damn reaction test needed and apparently I didn't 'react wel'l to the neural link, so mechs are nothing but a hobby of mine." Fergus paused and placed a hand on the machines large left leg "I wonder how it got this damaged?"

Shepard was about to tell Fergus to get a move on and come with him but he was cut off by one off by what sounded like an angry female voice behind him.

"Before I ask just what the hell you are doing touching her I will indulge your curiosity." Shepard, Tali and Fergus all turned to face the new voice and found the owner to be a young woman. She had strawberry blonde hair that was tied into a pony tail and what appeared to be greyish eyes, she appeared to be wearing a flight suit of some kind.

She walked forward and glared at Fergus until he removed his hand then said "she sustained damage during a city fight on Victoria a damn Geth colossus supported by around five other walkers as well as infantry managed to overwhelm her shields." She paused speaking then smirked "but I still managed to take them down, but I have to ask who are you bunch of idiots and what are you doing poking around here?" She pointed at Shepard.

Shepard glanced at the bars on her arms signifying she was a Captain in the Royal armoured so he outranked her by quite a bit. "I would like to know who you are miss?"

She quickly responded to Shepard's question "I am Captain Emma Langley, I'm in charge of the Knights on the ship and you still haven't answered my question who are you? Also why is there an Alien here?" She said finally noticing Tali.

Shepard smirked this was going to be fun "Well this 'idiot' is Leftenant Commander John Shepard and this 'Alien' is Tali Zorah oh and this is Lance Corporal Fergus Smith, I would say a pleasure but…"

Emma seemed to clench her fists and tense up "sorry sir, I was unaware of you rank but my point still stands please refrain from touching her."

Shepard nodded "very well Fergu…"

"You know that joint is loose right?" Fergus said pointing to knee joint on the mechs leg.

"What no it…damn it is as well if I had gone into battle it could have toppled over thank you for pointing it out, how could you tell?" Emma crossed her arms as she asked Fergus.

"Well I had to admit it but I'm a bit of…what's the term the yanks use? Nerd yeah that's it I'm a nerd when it comes to mechs I love the things also congrats on piloting a mark II."

Emma seemed to smile slightly before smirking "of course only the best get to pilot the mark II's."

Fergus seemed about to reply when Shepard grabbed him by the collar and started to drag him away.

"Come on you can talk to her later but for now we need to get out of our damn civvies." Fergus agreed and said his good byes to Emma promising he would talk to her later, she pretended not to be interested.

They came to stand by the others who were Garrus was chatting to Zaeed about the best way to set up a defensive line, while Kaidan and Alf were being given uniforms by the armourer as Zaeed called him. His name was Vijay he gave Shepard his uniform then Zaeed told them to follow him as he was taking them to their quarters.

Zaeed dropped Kaidan, Alf and Fergus off at living quarters 3b and told them to ask the men if they needed any help, then it was on to Shepard's quarters. After another ten minutes they finally made it to the officer's deck. Tali and Garrus were told to share a small cabin for security although Shepard believed it was just to make them easier to watch. Zaeed and Shepard finally made it to his cabin which while not as big as his one on the Hastings was still quite large, there was a double bed a desk with a computer terminal as well as a small bathroom complete with shower and last but not least a small sitting area as well as a coffee table and what appeared to be a small sink and fridge.

"Well Shepard this is where we part ways use the terminal if you need to contact anyone and if you need food etc then the officers mess is down that hallway there, or if you're like me and prefer the company of down to earth lads then the general mess is down that hallway to your left just follow the signs and you'll find it."

Shepard smiled at Zaeed and shook his hand once more before heading into his newly acquired cabin and letting the door slid to a close behind him. The first thing he did was to change into his uniform a Green Royal Marine shirt and camo trousers with boots. Once that was done Shepard went to the terminal and decided to catch up on the news by browsing the extranet. After a half hour of searching he had found out that the Geth in one final push had been driven off Victoria and that their fleet had been smashed, but what was odd is that the Geth seemed to retreat of their own will even in the Russian and American systems they were fighting in they were leaving, Shepard found that most odd indeed. If the Geth let their foothold in human space fall then they would be fools as this would give the humans a chance to prepare a joint counter attack.

Suddenly a voice seemed to emit from a pa system of some kind, "Just several announcements to inform the crew we are now departing Sol and our eta to the Knossos system is two days, two hours and fifteen minutes. Also I would like to remind you all that her Royal Highness the Princess Scarlett is abroad so please be mindful of your actions, that is all Nelson out."

Shepard deciding he wasn't hungry and with time to kill decided to grab some sleep so lying down on top of his bed he closed his eyes and drifted off into a troubled sleep.

"They turn your own people against you, indoctrination is an insidious means of control you must prepare you must fight." Shepard saw what appeared to be a Prothean shouting at him. He tried to reply but no words came out of his mouth "they are unlike anything we have ever faced but if you are seeing this th…" The Prothean seemed to be cut off and Shepard woke up in a sweat his biotics active.

Realizing it was just a dream and he was simply sitting up on his bed on the ship he relaxed and lay back down, he was just about to close his eyes when a high pitched beeping emitting from his terminal letting him know he had an incoming video call. He got out of bed with a groan and walked over to his terminal after pressing a few buttons a blue hologram of Lucy shot out of the screen.

She worked better then when he had last seen her she still looked a bit rough but the head injury had been repaired at least, 'wait how long was I sleeping for?'

"Hey Shepard" Lucy waved weakly Shepard simply smiled.

"What are you doing calling me? You should still be recovering even with medi gel and genetic therapy you need time to recover. But anyway I hope you are alright I would have come to the hospital with you guys but I was sort of whisked away."

Lucy smiled "thanks' for your concern Shepard I'm fine really, just a little tired is all also Ashley and Daveth are okay, he's been spending most of the day with her honestly I don't know why they don't just kiss and get it over with."

Shepard chuckled "yeah you would sort of have to be blind to not see that he fancies her I mean she is a good looking woman I don't blame him."

Lucy chuckled then smirked evilly and said "what about me Shepard?"

Shepard went red and chuckled nervously "the med's they gave you are still working their way through your system I see."

Lucy rolled her eyes then smiled "Maybe but you didn't answer the question and I'm waiting."

Shepard sighed "fine, yes you are very attractive quite beautiful really."

Lucy held both her hands over her heart "aww that is so cute Shepard thank you." Shepard noticed a split second flash of an emotion Shepard couldn't quite pinpoint cross her face.

"Okay apart from trying to embarrass me and make me blush why did you call?" Shepard realized after he said it that maybe he was a bit blunt "not that I mind you calling mind you, it's a nice gesture."

Lucy smiled then spoke "no I just wanted to see if you were okay and ask when you are returning to the Hastings and Earth."

Shepard briefly explained meeting the Princess and Lord Hunt as well as their current mission to Therum, Lucy seemed to troubled when she spoke.

"Shepard just…be careful I have…a bad feeling shall we say."

Shepard smirked "aww so you do care about me then?" Lucy seemed to blush slightly but quickly got it under control.

"Just come back alive and maybe you'll get a reward." Lucy winked and then her hologram disappeared. Shepard smiled he liked Lucy but whenever he flirted with woman he felt like he was somehow betraying Liz that would be a barrier he would have to overcome, it had been years after all.

Shepard deciding he was thirsty went to grab a bottle of water from the small fridge in his quarters then seeing nothing better to do he went onto his terminal and looked up Therum on the extranet. The planet was a bit smaller than Earth but it was very volcanically active, there were several theories that related to two giant impact creators on the western side of the planet, some say that destabilised the crust. Overall Shepard didn't like the look of Therum just shifting through some photos he could see vast ashfield's and areas that looked a bit like the mountains of Mars. So he was heading into the Inferno this planet of volcanos and fire and so Shepard with a large gulp from his water bottle decided he would try and get some more sleep as he saw that it was roughly four am.

End of chapter Eleven next chapter awakening.

Please read and review and tell me what you think cheers.

Codex Entry: The Red Belt.

The Red belt is a slang term for two solar systems in the Northern Terminus systems that have been settled by the descendants of the failed communist revolution in Russia and the former states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Communism is shunned throughout every human nation and although the majority of the Red belts population are human a fair few Asari and Salarians as well as Turians have joined them.

Codex Entry: Praxxia incident.

I shall do this one at the beginning of next chapter, it involves Zaeed so I am giving out a beware of bad arse warning.


	15. Codex Entry: Praxxia incident

**Codex Entry: Praxxia incident.**

The Praxxia incident took place in late 2163 three years after the end of the war for Shanxi in the middle of a large colonial rush, some liked this period to the scramble for Africa that had taken place back on Earth. After the end of the war humanity had access to vast maps of the galaxy that had been previously been unknown to humanity, now while the major focus was on the Skyillian verge and Attican Traverse they were not the only areas to be revealed to humanity the vast area of the galaxy referred to as the Terminus was ripe for the taking. The Terminus systems were comprised of numerous alien civilizations and petty and squabbling Empires it was onto the stage that the Human Empires entered.

The Praxxian's were a reptilian analogue species that were a non-eezo based civilization that was confined to its home planet, and they would have most likely been ignored if not for the fact the planet of Praxxia was unusually abundant with rare metals and other such resources. Thus the eyes of the giants were turned to this small civilization. The two Empires competing for the rights to mine resources and gain influence in this small civilization were the British Empire (mainly represented by the Colonial frontier company) and the Empire of Japan.

The Praxxians were in the midst of a war between two rival super powers that had been going on for a decade. These two powers were both large Kingdoms that were fighting over a chain of large islands roughly twice the size of the British Isles, the reason this was taking place was that under these isles were the resources both the Japanese and British Empires so desired. Thus it was that the Colonial frontier company with the governments blessing sent private troops to fight for one of the alien powers. The Japanese empire had their own corporations send troops as well and thus this small war on a back water planet had developed into a proxy war between two galactic superpowers.

After two years of heavy fighting it appeared that neither side was going to be able to claim victory thus Japan and Britain were brought to the negotiating table. They agreed to jointly run the resource rich island chain and even came to a deal to build a jointly funded space port, although this ended the proxy war the Praxxians had not been informed about any of this and their first clue that their war was about to end was when British and Japanese warships descended into the planet's atmosphere. Having no choice the two rival alien empires ended their war and were left to their own devices.

A year after this event Jessica Wellesley the daughter of then Prime Minister Jonathan Wellesley, was sent to the British embassy on Praxxia as part of the British trade mission. The British embassy on the planet was just outside the capital city of the Kingdom of Kalixa, it was built in the gothic style and was built to be a fortress with large walls and heavy duty shield and kinetic barrier generators. The embassy contained around three hundred staff and around a hundred soldiers of the Kings own regiment of foot led by a lieutenant Zaeed Massani, there were also two old Goliath class mechs stationed there . Lieutenant Massani had been assigned to Praxxia after he had received numerous floggings and other such punishments, this was meant to keep him out of the way as he said to the press after the incident and it was true the majority of troops stations on Praxxia were the trouble makers as it were.

Several days after Jessica Wellesley's arrival on Praxxia the King of the Kingdom of Kalixa was overthrown in a very bloody and very brief revolution, this had been due to his people seeing him as little more than a puppet for the British Empire. Now this situation in of its self wouldn't have been a problem but unfortunately the Navy warships that were based in Praxxia had been sent to attack a base of Batarian pirates, and they would not be back for two days.

The new dictator of Kalixa seeking to prove his own might turned his attention towards the small British embassy and sent a forty thousand strong army complete with armour, artillery and primitive jet aircraft to attack the British embassy. The attack started with a four hour artillery barrage which was attempting to break the embassy's shields, not a single shot got through. Instead of disrupting the soldiers in the embassy this gave them time to prepare defences were laid down and traps were set the soldiers manned the walls that looked out onto the alien army while the two mechs were backed up by infantry were to hold the front gate. The British troops deployed the majority of troops facing the North and West as to the East and South were large marsh lands which the vehicles of the Praxxians could move across.

After the barrage stopped and the commander of the Praxxians was enraged the shield hadn't been dented it is said that Zaeed now piloting one of the Goliath mechs charged out of the front gate and right into the front ranks of massed Praxxians troopers who panicked at the sight of the mech. The Goliath killed around a hundred Praxxians in seconds and it's shields simply shrugged off the shell fire from the tanks, the Goliath before retreating back into the protective shields of the embassy rip off the turret of a Praxxian tank and threw it straight at the main Praxxian line.

Zaeed returned to rapturous cheers from his men. The alien commander now enraged, ordered a full advance under the cover of artillery and air support. The artillery still had no effect and the jets were swiftly shot down by the embassy anti air craft lasers. Thousands Praxxian troops surged forward supported by columns of their large tracked tanks, as they charged forward it is said a few members of the British present had brought bag pipes and they started playing during the alien charge.

Well into the night the alien onslaught continued there was now a wall of corpses in front of the embassy walls, and since It was now dark and the alien forces weren't equipped with night vision they were at a disadvantage. The Praxxian general seeing that a continued frontal assault was pointless came up with a plan, he would send thousands of troops through the marsh lands and attack from the south. After preparing for a couple of hours the Praxxians renewed their attack, artillery and jet aircraft supported by armoured forces attacked the British garrison. While the British focus was on the north wall the Praxxians managed to get troops under the shield and managed to lay explosives on the south wall. Realizing what was going on Zaeed now on foot took a small company of about ten men to reinforce the south side which now had Praxxians streaming through the breach in the wall. After their hastily erected defensive positions were overrun by sheer weight of bodies, the troops on the south side retreated into the main embassy building. At this point the British had lost around twenty men under sheer weight of numbers, the only thing that even seemed to dent the shields that covered the troopers shields were the main cannons of the tanks the Praxxians used.

With the South side now having fallen and their flank exposed the troopers on the north wall retreated into the safety of the building, to achieve this the two Goliath mechs held up thousands of the aliens as they streamed through the breach, they were soon overwhelmed however when the front gate was blown open and dozens upon dozens of tanks streamed into the embassy grounds. Although the mechs held them up for almost an hour eventually their shields started to fail from just the sheer amount of fire that was being poured upon them. Even once their shields had failed, then the two mechs working in conjunction fought a fighting retreat as they retreated to the main building. Once they had entered the court heard of the embassy they were helped by the massed fire of the troopers in the buildings.

One of the mechs was hit by a tank shell in a joint knocking out it's leg and causing it to fall to the ground, almost as soon as it had fallen the massed ranks of the Praxxians fell upon the machine. The second mech desperately tried to come to its comrades aid but was unable to just from the sheer amounts of Praxxians and it was unable to received help from inside as the Praxxian hordes had broken through the front and back doors and were swarming into the building. British troopers were forced to fight in hand to hand combat and even with the added strength the armour gave them the Praxxians were the stronger, British troopers were forced to resort to using their ceremonial sabres to fight tooth and nail. Above all this chaos Zaeed Massani strode he inspired his men and brought death to the enemy, according to survivors testimony's he single handily killed at least fifty Praxxians as they breached the side of the building he used a sabre to cut his way through.

After half an hour of attempting to get into the downed mech the Praxxians brought up their tanks and started firing at the down mech. This was damaging for moral as they could hear the pilots screams and since it was a woman out there it was all the more moral damaging. The second mech at this point had been completely destroyed when around thirty tanks had managed to corner it. The Troopers had been pushed from the main entrances and back into the dining hall but upon hearing the screams of the female mech pilot as the alien horde attempted to open the mech.

Massani along with four other planned to leave the others holding the dining hall while they headed for the second story and jumped out of the windows straight into the massed aliens. Massani would later recall that he wasn't able to see through the sheer amount of bullets that were hitting his shield. As the four advanced they suffered two casualties due to them being dragged down and ripped apart by the Praxxians. The two surviorus finally made it to the downed mech just as the pilot was being ripped out of the pilot's seat. The Praxxian who had done it held the struggling women aloft and roared, he also seemed to be holding a union flag that the alien must have ripped off the flag pole in the central court yard. The alien went to bite the struggling woman with his strong crocodile like jaws and seeing no alternative (his rifle long having been ripped from his grasp) Zaeed used grenades to blast through the crowd and finally managed to get to the woman.

The alien roared and Zaeed roared right back, the alien seeing the main threat dropped the struggling woman and unsheathed what appeared to be a sword made out of some kind of bone. The Praxxian troopers went to attack but were stopped by the alien which was assumed to be the leader.

The duel was legendary with the bone of the alien weapon being countered by British steel, the duel lasted for twenty minutes until Zaeed managed to cut one of the aliens head spike off. In Praxxian culture this is considered the ultimate dis honour and the enraged alien warlord ordered his men to attack. A Praxxian tank fired and the shell impacted directly on Zaeeds shields sending him flying.

According to reports around twenty troopers managed to push through and drag him back into the building, after Zaeed had recovered he went right back to commanding the siege his rage was fuelled by the fact he had failed to rescue the woman (who's name was Jessie Smith), as she had been killed by the alien commander and was now being paraded around like a trophy.

Now down to thirty men and having been pushed back all the way to the entrance to the bunker where the civilian staff were located the British troops felt hopeless it had been two days now and still no sign of rescue, their energy cells were low and they had used so many rounds even their mass effect slugs were running low and none of them had slept either.

Zaeed suggested a final stand they would attempt to and this is a direct quote 'take as many of the God damn bastards as we can with us', his men seeing no alternative agreed. So the thirty survivors a few using firearms others ceremonial weapons never designed for combat advanced. They managed to get to the main entrance before they started falling one by one. Zaeed had his helmet ripped off and was just about to be stabbed by an alien bayonet when all fighting seemed to stop as a large whooshing sound filled the ears of the combatants.

The British soldiers knew it was no alien jet and started laughing as they renewed their assault, Zaeed manged to punch off the alien and reclaim his helmet just before large explosion rocked the courtyard then another and two more then at least a dozen low flying aircraft went roaring over head the soldiers cheered knowing them as Avro Falcons. Apparently the British troopers on the ground received a communication and a quote again here 'sorry we're late old chaps we had a spot of bother with a Batarian dreadnaught'.

The Heavy cruiser HMS Cairo descended onto the battlefield, it sheer size inspiring terror in the Praxxians. Hundreds of the primitive Praxxian aircraft attempted to attack the Cairo, but they were swatted aside like flies. Once the air was clear the large broadside weapons on the Cairo turned groundside and started obliterating the massed Praxxian army.

The battle after two days was over only twenty five British soldiers survived the siege but their kill count was legendary, the media proclaimed it a Rourkes drift for the twenty second century, four Victoria crosses were awarded (although it was later learnt that Lieutenant Massani sold his a week after being awarded it).

As for Praxxia the British and Japanese Empire used this as an excuse that they were barbarians and need to be controlled after a brief twelve hour war the nations of Praxxia became protectorates of the Japanese and British Empire's respectively.

Historical note the book by Arthur Savage entitled forty eight hours is considered to take extreme creative license with this event.

End of Codex entry.

So please tell me what you think this is just a little thing to keep you lads (and ladies) going until next chapter.


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